Tales of the Dragonborn
by Raiden2013
Summary: A series of stories centered around the Dragonborn and his friends and allies. Current arc: Road to the Dawn. The Dawnguard is being reformed as a new vampire threat grows in the horizon. Can Aeros stop the Tyranny of the Sun before it's too late?
1. Road to the Dawn 1

Road to the Dawn 1

Aeros gazed around him, his breath misting slightly in the cool morning air. He had heard some guards talking the day before about a group of vampire hunters reforming called the Dawnguard and had decided to take a look and maybe join them. From what he had heard he had been expecting an old rundown fort like what he had seen throughout Skyrim. But this, this was breathtaking.

He had found the entrance easily enough, an opening in the cliff on the side of the road. But when he had emerged, he found himself at the far end of a hidden canyon, which opened up before him. From where he stood he could see a lake to his right, fed by what looked like a glacial waterfall. To his left he could see where the path twisted amongst some trees before disappearing from his sight. He guessed that would be where the fort was.

Remembering why he was here, Aeros kept moving forward along the path, his dragonplate armor making a slight clanking as he walked. As he drew closer to the lake, Aeros noticed what looked like a person standing there. Moving closer, he saw it was a Nord like himself, admiring the view. The man turned towards him as he approached.

"Oh, hey there! You here to join the Dawnguard too?" the Nord asked. Aeros nodded.

"Yeah, name's Aeros." Aeros said as he held out his hand. The man shook his hand with a slight smile. "My name's Agmaer." he replied. The two of them started walking up the path again. Agmaer talked as they went.

"Truth is, I'm a little nervous. I've never done anything like this before. I hope you don't mind if I walk up with you."

Aeros shook his head. "No, I don't mind. It's nice to have some company actually." He glanced at Agmaer as they walked. He looked to be only a couple years younger than Aeros, probably just into his twenties, with light blonde hair and the beginnings of a beard.

"Hey, uh, don't tell Isran I was afraid to meet him by myself." Agmaer said nervously, looking over at Aeros. "Not the best first impression for a new vampire hunter, I guess."

"Don't worry." Aeros assured him. "I understand where you're coming from all too well. I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks." Agmaer sighed in relief. He looked at Aeros again, this time taking in his armor and the two swords hanging on Aeros's back. "You've probably killed lots of vampires huh? I'm sure Isran will sign you right up. Not sure he'll take me. I hope so."

Aeros couldn't help but shake his head at Agmaer's attitude. He kept swinging back and forth from worry to hope from one second to the next. He honestly wasn't sure if the other Nord was actually hoping that Isran would turn him away. Before he could answer though, Agmaer spoke up again.

"That must be it. Fort Dawnguard...Wow. Bigger than I expected." Aeros could hear the awe in his voice and looked up. He stumbled and almost lost his footing at what he saw. The fort was a lot bigger than any other he had seen in Skyrim, even those he had seen during some of the sieges he had taken part in during the civil war. The place looked to be in excellent condition with almost no signs of disrepair, built on top of a cliff. It was hard to believe that this place had been supposedly abandoned for years.

They passed through the gates of a wooden barricade set up at the base of the hill. As the two of them kept moving, they passed an Orc who was practicing shooting a crossbow, something Aeros had only seen once or twice before, and never in Skyrim. However, the Orc ignored them when they passed and they decided to keep going. As they climbed the hill, Agmaer turned to look at Aeros behind him.

"I guess this is it." he said, nervous all over again. "Wish me luck."

The two of them approached the twin doors of the fort. A large Breton stood at the top of the steps, watching them approach. "New recruits?" He laughed. "Isran will decide if you've got what it takes. Go on, he's right inside." He stepped to the side to let Aeros and Agmaer pass.

As they entered the fort though, the first thing they saw was two men standing in the middle of the large space, facing each other. There was a palpable sense of tension in the air.

"Why are you here, Tolan?" One of them asked, his voice gruff. He was wearing the same armor as the Orc and Breton had been wearing outside and had a large warhammer on his back. "The Vigilants and I were finished with each other a long time ago."

The man with his back to them spoke up then. "You know why I'm here. The Vigilants are under attack everywhere. The vampires are much more dangerous than we believed."

"And now you want to come running to safety with the Dawnguard, is that it?" the man Aeros guessed to be Isran sneered.

"I remember Keeper Carcette telling me repeatedly that Fort Dawnguard is a crumbling ruin, not worth the expense or the manpower to repair. And now that you've stirred the vampires against you, you come begging for my protection?" Aeros could practically hear the disgust dripping from the man's voice.

"Isran, Carcette is dead." Tolan said sorrowfully. The Hall of the Vigilants...everyone...they're all dead. You were right, we were wrong. Isn't that enough for you?" he asked bitterly.

"Yes, well...I never wanted any of this to happen." Isran said, shaking his head. "I tried to warn all of you...I am sorry, you know." He looked past Tolan at that point, noticing Aeros and Agmaer for the first time. He stepped around the Vigilant and walked towards them. He stopped a few feet away.

"So who are you? What do you want?" he asked Aeros, sizing him up. Aeros decided to get straight to the point.

"I'm here to join the Dawnguard." he said simply. Isran nodded at this.

"Got a fire in your belly to kill vampires, eh? Good for you. But look around." he gestured to the fort around them. "There's really not much to join yet. I've only just started rebuilding the order."

"I don't care about that." Aeros said, shaking his head. "What can I do to help?"

"That eager to help are you?" Isran seemed amused by this. "Well, I need someone out in the field, taking the fight to the damn vampires, while we're getting the fort back into shape…Tolan was telling me about some cave the Vigilants were poking around in. Seemed to think it was related to these recent vampire attacks." He turned back towards where Tolan was still standing.

"Tolan, tell him about, what was it, Dimhollow?"

"Yes, that's it." Tolan's voice was heavy with weariness and grief. "Dimhollow Crypt. Brother Adalvald was sure it held some long lost vampire artifact of some kind." He shook his head. "We didn't listen to him any more than we did Isran. He was at the Hall when it was attacked…" he trailed off.

"That's good enough for me." Isran said. "Go see what those vampires were looking for in this Dimhollow Crypt. With any luck, they'll still be there." He reached behind him and grabbed something. "Here, take this crossbow." he said, offering it to Aeros. "Good for taking out those fiends before they get close."

Aeros accepted the crossbow, hefting its weight in his hand before holding it up in a firing position, aiming down it. He smiled before slinging it on his back. "Thanks. I'll make sure to put it to good use."

Isran nodded. "Feel free to poke around the fort before you leave. Take whatever you need. There isn't much yet, but you're welcome to take anything you can use."

Tolan looked up then. "I'll meet you at Dimhollow. It's the least I can do to avenge my fallen comrades."

"Tolan, I don't think that's a good idea. You Vigilants were never trained for…" Tolan cut him off.

"I know what you think of us." he said, his voice bitter. "You think we're soft, that we're cowards. You think our deaths proved our weakness." He glared at Isran and his voice filled with loathing. "Stendarr grant that you never have to face the same test and be found wanting." Tolan glanced over at Aeros. "I'm going to Dimhollow Crypt. Perhaps I can be of some small assistance to you." He turned to leave, never looking back at Isran.

Isran snorted and muttered under his breath. "Fool." He looked over at where Agmaer was still standing. "You there, boy. Stop skulking in the shadows and step up here. What's your name?"

Agmaer stepped forward nervously, practically sweating buckets. "I'm, uh...my name is Agmaer, sir."

"Do I look like a "sir" to you, boy?" Isran asked sarcastically, walking over to get a better look at Agmaer. "I'm not a soldier, and you're not joining the army."

"Yes si...Isran." Agmaer said, nodding frantically.

"Didn't I tell you to step forward?" Isran asked gruffly. He looked Agmaer up and down critically. "Hmm...farm boy, eh? What's your weapon?"

Agmaer blinked. "Uh, my weapon? I mostly just use my pa's axe, when wolves are attacking the goats or something."

Isran barked out a laugh. "'My pa's axe', Stendarr preserve us." He laughed some more. "Don't worry," he said, looking at Agmaer again, "I think we can make a Dawnguard out of you. Here, take this crossbow and let's see how you shoot." He handed Agmaer another crossbow and had him assume a shooting position.

Aeros watched Agmaer take a few shots, Isran coaching him and offering tips, before he turned and left the fort. He had a long way to go to reach Dimhollow Crypt, and he best get started as early as he could. Hopefully he would catch up with Vigilant Tolan before he reached the crypt. Aeros took a deep breath and started off back down the path.

* * *

Author's Notes: Tales of the Dragonborn will be a series of stories centered around the Dragonborn Aeros, and his friends and allies. Most of the stories will be multi part stories, while some might be one chapter based on miscellaneous quests or ideas that I come up with. Most of these arcs will be in some semblance of a chronological order, although that may change depending on the whims of the author and the Nine Divines.

This first arc, Road to the Dawn, will feature the first half of the Dawnguard DLC, and follow Aeros as he seeks to stop Harkon's Tyranny of the Sun. Feel free to leave a review and point out any grammar errors you see, since sometimes I seem to forget the English language.

Characters:

Aeros: The Dragonborn of these stories. Is between his mid and upper twenties. Generally Neutral Good, obeying and respecting the law, but isn't afraid to bend the rules or defy authority if his friends are in danger. Supported the Legion in the civil war and has ties to both Skyrim and Cyrodill.

Agmaer: A young Nord you meet when you first enter Dayspring Canyon. He accompanies you to Fort Dawnguard where you first meet Isran.

Isran: Leader of the Dawnguard. Despises vampires with a passion. A general douchebag, but has his rare moments of compassion.

Tolan: A Vigilant of Stendarr. Survived the attack on the Hall of the Vigilants and came to Isran looking for help. Heads to Dimhollow Crypt to avenge his fellow Vigilants. Doesn't end so well for him.

Dragon Language: None used.


	2. Road to the Dawn 2

Road to the Dawn 2

"Those Vigilants never know to give up. I thought we'd taught them enough of a lesson at their hall." Aeros crouched down on a small ledge, listening carefully. He had found Dimhollow Crypt easily enough, right where Isran and Tolan had said it would be. As he walked inside though, he had heard voices and immediately dropped down into a crouch so that they wouldn't hear him.

Now he listened to what he guessed to be two vampires talking to each other, seeing what he could learn before he went charging in.

"To come here alone...a fool like all the rest of them." That was the woman talking now. As far as Aeros could tell, it was only the two of them. But there seemed to be something else there too. He could hear whatever it was walking around but hadn't been able to get a clear look at it.

"He fought well though. Jeron and Bresoth were no match for him." Aeros frowned. They weren't talking about Tolan were they?

"Ha. Those two deserved what they got. Their arrogance had become insufferable."

Aeros could hear what seemed to be the first vampire sighing. "All this talk is making me thirsty. Perhaps another Vigilant will wander in soon."

"I wish Lokil would hurry it up. I have half a mind to return to the castle and tell Harkon what a fool he's entrusted this mission to." The female vampire said, sounding irritated.

"And I have half a mind to tell Lokil of your disloyalty."

"You wouldn't dare." The vampire said uncaringly. "Now shut up and keep on watch." After that, the two of them didn't say anything else that Aeros could hear.

Creeping forward, Aeros shifted slightly to the right, to where he could see one of the vampires standing. Carefully, he pulled the crossbow out from where it hung on his back. Raising it up, he loaded a bolt and took aim. He squeezed the trigger and watched as the bolt flew forward, traveling through the air almost silently. It punched through the vampire's armor and into his chest like it was nothing. The vampire collapsed in a boneless heap.

Almost immediately the other remaining vampire ran towards the source of the noise to investigate, along with what Aeros could now see was one of those death hounds. He quickly loaded another bolt and fired off another shot, but his aim was off. The bolt missed and bounced off against the cave wall behind the vampire. She whirled and seemed to easily pick him out of the shadows.

"There you are!" she said, a feral grin forming on her lips. She charged towards him.

Figuring it was pointless to try and reload the crossbow again before she reached him, Aeros set it down and stood up. Reaching over his shoulders, he pulled out his twin dragonbone swords from their sheaths on his back. The swords blazed with their enchantments, the one in his left hand burning brightly with its fire enchantment, and the one in his right cooling the air around it with its frost enchantment. He dashed forward to meet the vampire.

As she ran towards him, the vampire's hand shot out and a red stream of magic arced towards him. Aeros sidestepped the magic, whatever it was, and kept moving forward. As he got closer, the vampire swung her axe at his head. He parried it away with the sword in his right hand while he swung with his left. His sword sliced open the vampire from hip to shoulder and she fell to the ground, eyes already glazing over.

Aeros sheathed his swords and looked around. "Now where did that death hound g-!" Before he could even finish his sentence, Aeros was bowled over by the death hound, which had been hiding behind a rock. He kicked the thing off of him and jumped to his feet. The death hound snarled, its red eyes seeming to glow with hatred towards him.

Aeros reached for his swords again, but stopped himself. "Enough of this." he said, not wanting to waste any more time. He took a deep breath.

"YOL TOOR SHUL!" Aeros's shout echoed through the air as he released a blast of fire, reducing the death hound to nothing but ash and bones.

"Well, that's that." Aeros sighed, relaxing his shoulders as he looked around. He saw a large opening that seemed to lead further into the caves, but it was blocked by a metal gate. Looking around some more, Aeros noticed what looked to almost be a tower built in the far corner of the cave. Climbing the stairs inside, he found a chain with a ring at the end near a window. Pulling the chain, he saw the gate at the opposite end of the cave open up.

Approaching the opening, Aeros was about to walk through when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he swore. Lying on the ground was Vigilant Tolan, dead.

"Bloody damn fool." Aeros swore. It looked like he had just charged in without thinking, and had payed the price. Shaking his head, he looked back at the now open gate. "Isran, this better not just be a waste of my time." he muttered before stepping forward and descending further into the crypt.

As he descended, Aeros encountered several more vampires, as well as the odd skeleton or draugr. Fortunately, none of them were too difficult and he moved quickly through the caverns. Finally he reached another area blocked by a gate. Luckily, the lever was right next to it and the gate raised immediately once he pulled the lever. On the other side of the gate was a so called "master vampire," one that had lived far longer than most of their kind. Still, he was no match for the Dragonborn and was soon dispatched of. Taking a moment to gather himself, Aeros pushed through the door in front of him. He emerged into a dimly lit room of sorts, mostly made up of the actual cave itself, but with some odd architecture he had never seen before. In front of him there was an archway leading out onto a balcony, flanked by two of the creepiest statues he had ever seen. The things looked like some kind of grotesque monster out of a nightmare. The way their eyes seemed to follow him put him on edge.

Aeros was just about to approach the balcony and look down when he heard voices below him. He drew back from the edge, making sure he couldn't be seen.

"I'll never tell you anything, vampire." He heard one voice say, a man. "My oath to Stendarr is stronger than any suffering you can inflict on me."

Another man spoke, his voice cruel. "I believe you, Vigilant. And I don't think you even know what you've found here. So go and meet your beloved Stendarr." This was followed by what sounded like a body falling to the ground.

"Are you sure that was wise Lokil?" A woman's voice this time. "He still might have told us something. We haven't gotten anywhere ourselves with…"

The man, Lokil cut her off. "He knew nothing. He served his purpose by leading us to this place. Now it is up to use to bring Harkon the prize." Aeros could hear the voices moving further away. "And we will not return without it. Vingalmo and Orthjolf will make way for me after this."

Aeros carefully moved forward to look over the balcony. He could see the two vampires walking along a bridge towards some kind of structure in the center of the cavern. What purpose it served, he couldn't tell.

"Yes, of course Lokil." the female vampire seemed to say in exasperation. "Don't forget who brought you news of the Vigilants' discovery."

"I never forget who my friends are." Aeros heard Lokil answer, before the vampire's voice became dangerously soft. "Or my enemies."

Aeros made his way down towards where the vampires had been originally. There he found another Vigilant, lying on his back, eyes wide open and his chest unmoving. Aeros looked towards the structure again. He could just make out one of the vampires, along with what looked like a thrall.

He raised his crossbow to his shoulder and took careful aim at the vampire. He pulled the trigger and the vampire dropped with a faint thud. With a faint smile, Aeros put the crossbow out and once again pulled out his twin dragonbone blades, Toor Strun Bah and Lis Krah Dinok, their enchantments glowing brightly. He charged across the bridge towards where Lokil and the thrall were just turning around.

Before the thrall could even react, Aeros was on him, his swords slashing across the man's chest, moving so fast they seemed to almost leave white and red streaks in their wake. The thrall fell, a look of surprise still on his face.

Aeros whirled and crossed his swords over him, managing to block Lokil's attack from behind. The vampire looked shocked for a moment but quickly collected himself. He pressed his attack, swinging his sword relentlessly. Aeros parried each blow, but realized this vampire wasn't quite the same as all the others.

"Who sent you?" Lokil demanded. "Was it Vingalmo? Orthjolf? Or are you one of those pathetic Vigilants, here to seek revenge?"

Aeros grinned slightly. "Nope. None of those. A man named Isran sent me." And with that, he knocked Lokil's sword out of his hand and plunged both swords through the vampire's chest.

Pulling his swords out, Aeros stepped over Lokil's body, walking towards the center of the strange structure. Looking around, it almost looked like a temple of some sort, although it definitely wasn't Nord architecture like the rest of the crypt had been.

Reaching the center of the structure, Aeros noticed a small pillar of sorts right in the middle, with lines or trenches of some sort running outwards from it, forming a pattern. On the top of the pillar was what looked like a large stone button. Curious, Aeros stepped forward and put his hand on the button. Maybe this was connected to whatever the vampires had been searching for.

All of a sudden, Aeros jerked in pain as a spike shot upwards from the pillar, stabbing through his hand. He almost fell but managed to pull himself back up. His hand throbbed from the pain. As he stood though, the spike retracted and the lines carved into the ground around lit up as what almost looked like violet flames appeared. The flames formed a ring around him and the pillar.

"Gods damned blood magic." he muttered, holding his wounded hand with the other. He used magic just as much as the next person; more in fact, since he was the Arch-mage of the College of Winterhold. But that didn't mean he appreciated having his hand impaled. He cast a healing spell as he moved closer to the purple flames to examine them. On closer inspection, he found that the "flames" gave off no heat and that he could pass right through them with no ill effects. They were little more than a light display.

But as he looked at the ring of magical fire again, he saw that a line broke off from the circle and moved outwards. Aeros now saw that there were even more lines carved into the stone. Five straight lines exited the center, where the pillar was. These lines seemed to intersect two more circles. And, he noticed, there were what looked like braziers at various intersections of the circles. In fact, one of them lay in the middle of the path of the magical fire, which continued on as if nothing was in its way, until it reached the outer circle.

Looking more closely at the brazier, Aeros realized that it could be pushed. Deciding to see what would happen, he shoved the brazier to where the line of magic ended. As it settled into place, the brazier lit up with magical purple fire. As it did, a new trail of fire appeared, traveling from the now lit brazier to a new space.

Knowing now what to do, Aeros moved the remaining braziers, and each time he moved it to the correct spot, the brazier would light up and a new line of purple flames would appear. As he pushed the last brazier into place, the entire structure shook. Grabbing one of the many arches built as part of whatever this thing was, Aeros steadied himself and tried to see what was going on.

And that was when he noticed the center of the structure seemed to be opening up. As it did, a giant amount of magic was released into the air, shooting upwards, while at the same time, the whole structure seemed to be sinking right under him, revealing more and more of the column.

At last, the shaking stopped and the structure stopped sinking. Standing up straight, Aeros approached the column in the center, which was now much larger than before, looking to almost to be some kind of stone monolith. Running his hands along its sides, Aeros found a small button and pressed it. As he did, Aeros heard something release and the front of the stone monolith sunk down.

And inside, was a beautiful woman.

* * *

Author's Notes: So here's the second part of Tales of the Dragonborn! I actually had this ready to go not long after the first, but then I had no access to the Internet for two weeks. The horror! But now I'm plugged in again and I can stop hyperventilating.

On a side note, Toor Strun Bah and Liss Krah Dinok are the names I gave to my first two dragon bone swords. Geeky I know, but then I wouldn't be writing this if I wasn't a geek, now would I?

Characters:

Lokil: The vampire in charge of Dimhollow Crypt. He has been searching the place for something that will grant him power and influence in Harkon's court.

Dragon Language:

Toor = Inferno

Strun = Storm

Bah = Wrath

Liss = Ice

Krah = Cold

Dinok = Death

Yol Toor Shul = Fire Inferno Sun (Fire Breath shout)


	3. Road to the Dawn 3

Road to the Dawn 3

Aeros froze in shock. Out of everything, the last thing he had expected to find inside of the stone monolith was another person. Was this woman what the vampires had been looking for?

Before he could move, the mysterious woman fell forward. He tried to catch her before she hit the ground but instead she managed to catch herself, using her hands to brace herself and not fall. Pushing herself back, the woman stood up and fixed her eyes on Aeros.

"Unh...where is...who sent you here?" the mysterious woman finally managed to ask, obviously still a little disoriented.

"A man named Isran." Aeros answered. There was something off about her eyes. They almost seemed to glow. "Who were you expecting?"

"I was expecting someone...like me, at least." the woman replied, evidently having finally gotten her bearings.

"Like you…" Aeros frowned. All of a sudden all the pieces came together. He looked back up at the woman. "Are you a…"

"Vampire, yes." the woman finished for him, crossing her arms and acting like it was no big deal, as if she had just told him the sky was blue.

Aeros involuntarily took a half step back, but caught himself and remained where he was. His frown deepened. "The Dawnguard would want me to kill you."

"Not fond of vampires are they?" the woman guessed, not seeming all that concerned about it. "Well, look. You kill me, you've killed one vampire. But if people are after me, there's something bigger going on. I can help you find out what that is."

Aeros realized she was right. "You have a point." he said, agreeing somewhat reluctantly. "Besides, I've had my fill of fighting for today. Alright, so where do you need to go?"

"My family used to live on an island to the west of Solitude. I'm guessing they still do." She seemed to remember something. "By the way...my name is Serana. Good to meet you."

"Good to meet you too, I guess." Aeros replied, not really sure how to act. "I'm Aeros."

Aeros noticed something slung across Serana's back. His mouth went dry. "Is that an Elder Scroll?" he asked.

"Yes, it is. And it's mine." Serana said, folding her arms under her breasts. There was a note of warning in her voice.

Aeros raised his hands concedence to show he had no intention of taking the Scroll. But he couldn't but ask, "Why do you have an Elder Scroll?" He had found one himself, during his quest to defeat Alduin, and he knew how rare they were.

"It's...complicated. I can't really talk about it. I'm sorry." Aeros nodded, accepting her answer and deciding not to press further. Still, he was curious.

"Why were you locked away in that sarcophagus?" he asked, nodding towards the monolith.

Again Serana seemed to hesitate. "I'd...rather not get into that with you." she said hesitantly. "If that's alright." She hesitated but seemed to feel like she needed to explain herself, as she continued. "I'm sorry. It's not that...it's just that I don't know who I can trust just yet. Let's get to my home, and I'll have a better sense of where we all stand."

"It's alright, I understand." Aeros told her, not wanting to push her. "Let's get going then." As the two of them found their way towards the opposite side of the cavern, Aeros turned to her and asked one more question.

"By the way...how long were you in there?"

"Good question." Serana said slowly, trying to think. "It's hard to say. I...I can't really tell. I feel like it was a long time. Who is Skyrim's High King?"

Aeros chuckled dryly. "That's actually a matter of debate."

"Oh wonderful." Serana said. "A war of succession. Good to know the world didn't get boring while I was gone. Who are the contenders?"

"Well, the Empire supports Elisif, the Jarl of Solitude, but there are many in Skyrim loyal to Ulfric Stormcloak." Aeros replied, looking around for a way out as they walked across the bridge on the opposite side of the one he had crossed earlier.

Serana frowned, a look of confusion on her face. "Empire? What...what empire?"

Aeros stopped and stared at her, not quite sure whether or not she was joking. "The...Empire. From Cyrodiil." He wondered if she was still confused from being in that sarcophagus for so long.

"Cyrodiil is the seat of an empire?" Serana said in surprise. "Wow, I must have been gone longer than I thought. Definitely longer than we planned. Please, let's hurry. I need to get home so I can figure out what's happened."

"Uh, right." Aeros agreed numbly. He was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that Serana had never heard of the Empire before. Just how long had she been in there?

As they stepped off the bridge, Aeros saw some stairs ahead, with more of those creepy statues at the top. Trying to shake off a feeling of unease,he stepped closer to the stairs. And as he did, the statues exploded.

Or rather, stone had gone flying as the "statues" suddenly decided to come to life, roaring at Serana and him as they attacked.

"What the hell?!" Aeros yelled as he rolled out of the way of the claws of one of the things.

"Gargoyles!" Serana yelled. Her hands lit up now as she gathered magicka in them. She raked the other gargoyle with arcs of lightning, causing it to roar in pain. As it backed away from Serana, her other hand released the magicka built up there, forming a giant spike of ice that buried itself in the creature's head. The gargoyle gave a strangled shriek as it fell, but that was soon cut short.

Aeros meanwhile had managed to unsheath one of his swords and was now pushing the remaining gargoyle back under a flurry of blows. With a yell, he lunged forward and slashed at the thing's neck. The gargoyle stumbled backwards, clutching its throat and trying to keep the blood from flowing out. It soon collapsed and gave one last feeble kick before it was still.

Aeros sheathed his sword before turning towards Serana. "What the hell were those?" he demanded.

"Gargoyles," she answered. "Magical constructs. They're great for guards, not moving from their station unless an intruder appears, at which point they'll burst of the stony shell that forms and attack."

"Great." Aeros muttered. "More monsters. And I can't even tell which of the statues are gargoyles…" He shook his head. "Alright, let's keep going."

The two of them finally managed to find a way out of the cavern, a passageway that led back into the crypt. After fighting through several draugr and skeletons, Aeros and Serana emerged in another large chamber. This one was brightly illuminated, as there was a giant fire burning in the center. The place looked almost like an amphitheatre or arena to Aeros, with a large open area down in the middle, where the fire was currently burning. Across from them Aeros could see what looked like a throne, arranged so that whoever was sitting in it could get a clear view of whatever was happening in the open area.

"Something's not right here." Serana spoke up from behind him. "Be careful. I think we may be in for some trouble." Almost as soon as she said that, a draugr stood up from the throne, as well as several other draugrs and skeletons around the amphitheatre.

Aeros pulled out one of his swords and readied a spell in his hand. Behind him he could hear Serana doing the same, pulling her elven dagger from its sheath. Without any further thought, Aeros charged the nearest skeleton.

Parrying its blade, Aeros slipped inside the skeleton's guard while it was off balance. Swinging his blade, Aeros slashed across the skeleton's chest. He relaxed momentarily, expecting the skeleton to break apart and scatter like those he had previously fought. So when all that happened was the skeleton staggered back, he blinked in shock. The skeleton quickly recovered and swung its two-handed sword at him. Biting back an oath, Aeros threw himself to the side, the skeleton's sword making sparks as it bounced off of the stone floor.

Pulling himself back to his feet, Aeros again had to roll out of the way to avoid having his head taken off. Enough was enough he decided. Standing, he quickly spun his sword in a downward arc, putting all his strength behind the blow.

He could feel bone breaking as his sword tore through the skeleton's chest. The skeleton collapsed with a loud clatter of bones. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Aeros immediately charged back into the fray.

Several minutes later, Aeros and Serana stood panting near the burning pit in the center of the amphitheater, the bodies of the draugrs and skeletons littered around them.

"Is that...is that all of them?" Serana panted.

Aeros slowly straightened and looked around. "Yeah...yeah, I think so." He laughed ruefully. "If I'm this tired from fighting skeletons and draugrs, I've really gotten lazy. Come on," he said as he offered Serana his hand. She grabbed it and he helped pull her to her feet. "Let's get out of here."

As the two slowly made their way up the other side of the amphitheater, Aeros looked over at Serana. "So tell me about your home. What's it like?"

"It's on an island near Solitude. Hopefully we can find a boat to take us there. It's my family home. Not the most welcoming place, but, depending on who's around, I'll be safe there." She sounded troubled.

"Someone you don't want to see?" Aeros asked. He really hoped he wasn't walking into some kind of vampire blood feud.

Serana was quiet for a while before answering. "My father and I don't really get along. Ugh, saying it out loud makes it sound so...common. Little girl who doesn't get along with her father. Read that story a hundred times." Her voice took on a self-mocking tone.

They walked in silence for a couple minutes before Serana spoke up again. Her tone was noticeably brighter. "It'll be good to get outside and breathe again. I haven't missed the sunlight, but I do miss the fresh air."

"Well it looks like you're about to get your wish." Aeros said, nodding towards a growing light ahead of them.

The two of them stepped out of the cave into the bright light of day. Aeros shielded his eyes and waited for them to adjust after being in the cave for so long. Serana meanwhile, had pulled a hood over her head to keep the sun off of her.

"Ah, it's so good to breathe again!" Serana said appreciatively, breathing in deeply. "This weather is incredible."

She glanced over at Aeros. "Come on. My home is this way." And the two of them set off for Serana's home.

After traveling for several hours until they could find a pass through the range of mountains near Solitude, Aeros and Serana found themselves along the northern coast as night fell around them. Looking out across the water, Aeros could almost swear he could see a castle on an island in the distance, but he couldn't be sure, even with his enhanced vision as a werewolf.

Serana answered his question for him. "That's it, out to the north." She said, pointing at the castle. She looked around for a bit. "We used to keep a boat around here to get there and back. It should be around here somewhere."

It didn't take them long to find a jetty, with a small rowboat tied to it. They climbed into the boat, with Aeros taking the oars. Making sure Serana was seated, Aeros started rowing out to the island.

Just when his arms were starting to get tired, Aeros felt the boat bump up against the side of a dock. Climbing out and tying the boat to the dock so it didn't float away, Aeros straightened and looked at what lay before him.

The castle was a lot bigger than it had looked from a distance, which was saying a lot. Directly ahead of them was a giant stone bridge that led to the castle's entrance. Lining the bridge were more gargoyle statues. Aeros just hoped these ones decided to stay statues. Beyond the main structure of the castle, Aeros could see several towers, although one seemed to be partly collapsed.

"This is it." Serana said behind him as she climbed out of the boat. "Come on, let's get inside." She walked past him and started crossing the bridge. Aeros hurried to catch up. They walked along the bridge in silence, the only sound their shoes clicking on the stone bricks. Right before they approached the entrance though, which was blocked by a metal porticullis, Serana stopped. Aeros didn't immediately noticed and walked forward a few more steps before he realized she wasn't next to him anymore. He turned around and found her looking at him with a pensive expression.

"Hey, so...before we go in…" She trailed off.

"What is it?" he asked. She seemed troubled by something, but he didn't know what.

"I wanted to thank you for getting me this far. But after we get in there, I'm going to go my own way for a while. I think…" Again she seemed troubled by something, but she shook it off and continued. "I know your friends would probably want to kill everything in here. I'm hoping you can show more control than that."

"Don't worry. I'll be on my best behavior." he said wryly.

Serana nodded in thanks. "Once we're inside, just keep quiet for a bit. Let me take the lead."

"Alright," Aeros agreed. That seemed the best choice to him. This was after all, the home territory of a bunch of vampires, and she knew a lot more about it than he did. Plus this way he was less likely to have his neck being bitten. He hoped.

The old guardsman on the other side of the porticullis finally noticed them as they approached the gate. He gave a start at Serana before yelling "Lady Serana's back! Open the gate!" The porticullis rose with a clatter, allowing them through. As they walked past the old guardsman, he turned his head to watch them.

"After all these years, Lady Serana's back…" Aeros heard him say quietly. He followed Serana through the doors.

Almost immediately though, Aeros found himself being blocked by a Altmer with glowing eyes. "How dare you trespass here!" the vampire snarled. He seemed ready to draw his sword, and the only thing stopping Aeros from doing the same was his promise to Serana. Before things could turn ugly though, the vampire stopped.

"Wait...Serana?" he said in disbelief. "Is that really you? I cannot believe my eyes!" He hurried to a railing behind him. "My lord! Everyone!" he shouted. "Serana has returned!" Aeros heard the sound of cheering and clapping.

"I guess I'm expected." Serana said dryly. "Come on, let's see who's waiting for us." They followed the Altmer to the railing and descended the steps on either side. And as Aeros got a look at what awaited them, he felt his mouth go dry.

The room was a large dining hall, similar to those he had seen in the palaces of Whiterun, and Solitude, and Windhelm. There was just one difference. Filling every seat at the tables were vampires. Looking around, Aeros realized there were multiple other vampires and thralls in various areas of the room and in adjacent rooms. There were also at least half a dozen death hounds roaming around the tables.

As they walked past several tables, Aeros shivered. What was lying on the tables was not platters of food and drink, but people. As he watched a vampire sat down near one, a Breton, and sunk his fangs into the man's neck. The man didn't even react, he just continued to stare blankly at the ceiling.

_Serana wants me to behave?_ he thought bleakly. _Well she definitely doesn't have to worry about me attacking anyone now. It's suicide!_

A man stood awaiting them. As they approached, he spread his arms. "My long lost daughter returns at last." he said. "I trust you have my Elder Scroll?"

Aeros couldn't help but stare. This was Serana's father? He welcomes her back and then immediately wants the Elder Scroll. No wonder Serana ran away.

Serana felt the same way it seemed. "After all these years, that's the first thing you ask me?" she asked in disgust. "Yes, I have the scroll." Aeros heard mutters and whispers at that.

"She has the scroll!"

"The Elder Scroll!"

"At last!"

Serana's father shook his head. "Of course I'm delighted to see you, my daughter. Must I really say the words aloud?" He paused before smiling slightly. "Ah, if only your traitor mother were here, I would let her watch this reunion before putting her head on a spike."

"Now tell me, who is this stranger you have brought into our hall?" Aeros didn't like the predatory look in his eyes, as if he were a hawk and Aeros a mouse.

Serana smiled slightly at Aeros before returning her gaze to her father. "This is my savior, the one who freed me." She told her father.

"Oh really?" the man sounded amused for some reason. He turned his gaze on Aeros. "For my daughter's safe return, you have my gratitude. Tell me, what is your name?"

Aeros was trying not to take a step back from the raw power he could feel rolling off of Harkon. _Stop that!_ He thought. _You've saved the world twice and defeated Alduin! There's no reason to be afraid of this guy!_

"I'm Aeros." he answered. "Who are you?"

"I am Harkon, lord of this court" the man said arrogantly. "By now my daughter will have told you what we are." It wasn't a question.

"You're vampires." Aeros answered bluntly.

"Not just vampires." Harkon said, almost seeming offended by the notion. "We are among the oldest and most powerful vampires in Skyrim. For centuries we lived here, far from the cares of the world. All that ended when my wife betrayed me and stole away that which I valued most."

"What happens now?" Aeros asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. He hoped it was that he would be allowed to leave here alive.

Harkon looked at him thoughtfully. "You have done me a great service." He said at last. "And now you must be rewarded. There is but one gift I can give that is equal to the Elder Scroll and my daughter."

"I offer you my blood. Take it, and you will walk as a lion among sheep. Men will tremble at your approach, and you will never fear death again."

"I'm a werewolf. What will happen if I accept your gift?"

"Yes, I could smell it on you." Harkon said, his voice a mixture of disguest and contempt. "The power of my blood will purge that _filth _and make you whole again."

"And if I want to remain a werewolf and refuse your gift?" Aeros asked cautiously. This could very easily go downhill very fast.

"Then I will banish you from this castle. I will spare your life this once, but after that you are prey like all mortals. But perhaps you still need convincing? Behold the power!"

A blood red mist began rising from Harkon's body. Despite himself, Aeros took a step back. The power he had felt emanating from Harkon had just increased tenfold. Harkon seemed to explode then, and a monster stood in his place.

Standing at least two feet taller than Harkon had been, the thing had grey skin drawn tight over its muscles, with claws stretching from its fingers. Wings grew out of its back and Aeros could see a large pair of fangs in its mouth. A crown of sorts sat upon its head and a cape red as blood hung from its back.

"This is the power that I offer!" Harkon's voice said from the mouth of the creature. Now, make your choice!"

Aeros hoped this wasn't going to get him killed. "I don't want to become a vampire." he said firmly. "I refuse your gift."

"So be it!" Harkon said. He floated into the air and one of his hands started glowing with some sort of spell. "Then you are prey, like all mortals. I banish you!" His hand shot out towards Aeros, releasing the spell. Before Aeros could react and cast a ward, the spell hit him square in the chest.

Everything began to fade, and then turned black.

* * *

Author's Notes: And here's Ch.3 of Road to the Dawn. This one went a lot faster, since I had already typed most of this one up already. I'll try to keep these going at a new chapter every couple days, but I may get them done either faster or slower, depending on how easy it is for me to come up with material.

Characters:

Serana: Hot female vampire you rescue from Dimhollow Crypt and the daughter of Harkon. Now generally considered the number one vampire waifu and loved as much as Lydia.

Harkon: Lord of Skyrim's vampires. Complete, evil douchebag and the worst excuse for a father in the history of Tamriel.

Alduin: You know, the big black dragon that nearly kills you multiple times and wants to bring back the rule of the dragons? He's kinda the final boss of Skyrim's main questline. Not a very nice dragon...

Dragon Language: None used.


	4. Road to the Dawn 4

Road to the Dawn 4

Aeros staggered as awareness returned, barely managing to catch himself on something. All he could do was wait, and try not fall on his face while he waited for his senses to fully return. Hearing was the first to return, but all Aeros could hear was the wind howling and the sound of waves. Not long after, his vision started to return, although everything was blurry and indistinct.

Finally, Aeros could see clearly and was able to stand back up without staggering like a drunken giant. Looking around, Aeros found he was outside of Castle Volkihar again, facing the pier.

"Gods damn!" Aeros swore. It was things like this that sometimes made it easier for him to understand why other Nords had such a dislike for magic. The vampires could have just asked him to leave, but instead they had to forcefully teleport him. Still, at least he was still in Nirn, and not some obscure plane of Oblivion.

But what's done is done, and Aeros had found out what, or rather who, had been hidden inside Dimhollow Crypt. And Serana was back with her family, if you could even call it that. Aeros glanced back at Castle Volkihar. Despite himself, he hoped Serana would be alright there. She had been surprisingly pleasant company and hadn't tried to bite his neck even once, unlike most vampires he had met. And that court had just seemed...cold.

Still, his job was done, and Isran would most definitely want to hear about what had occurred. This was a lot bigger than either of them had thought, and Aeros had a bad feeling that it was about to get a lot worse.

Climbing back in the boat, Aeros began rowing.

After traveling most of the night, Aeros finally arrived back at Fort Dawnguard. And found himself in the middle of an ambush.

"Die pathetic mortal!" he heard someone yell ahead of him, followed by the sound of weapons clashing. Sprinting the last couple yards up the path, Aeros rounded the corner to see the Dawnguard locked in combat with a group of vampires. Brandishing his swords, Aeros charged forward.

"FUS RO DAH!" he shouted, sending several vampires tumbling head over heels backwards. As the few still standing turned to face him, he crashed into the middle of them, his swords twin forces of destruction.

"For the Dawnguard!" he thought he heard someone yell, right before a warhammer smashed into the face of the vampire in front of him. He nodded thanks to Isran, before they both leapt back into combat.

A few minutes later, Aeros and the members of the Dawnguard stood surrounded by corpses, panting. Wiping his blades on the clothes of a dead vampire, Aeros straightened. Isran stood nearby, shaking his head in disgust. Turning he began walking back towards the fort.

"Look at this." he said as Aeros walked alongside him. "I should've known it was only a matter of time before they found us. It's the price we pay for openly recruiting. We'll have to step up our defenses." He glanced at Aeros. "I don't suppose you have some good news for me."

"Not exactly." Aeros answered.

"Damn. Well what do you know?" Isran asked as they walked through the doors.

"The vampires were looking for a woman trapped in Dimhollow."

"A woman? Trapped in there?" Isran said in disbelief. "That doesn't make any sense. Who is she? More importantly, _where _is she?

"She wanted to go home, so I took her to her castle." Aeros told him.

"I'm waiting to hear what any of this means." Isran growled impatiently. "So you took a girl home, so what? What does that have to do with these damn vampires?"

Aeros sighed, but answered anyways. "They also have an Elder Scroll."

"They what?" Isran said in shock. "And you didn't stop them? You didn't secure the scroll?"

Aeros didn't like the accusatory tone in Isran's voice. "What did you want me to do?" he snapped. "Take on every single vampire there and try to take the scroll back? There were too many of them, and only one of me. Not very good odds, even for the Dragonborn."

Isran ignored Aeros' outburst, which only rankled him further. "So they have everything they want, and we're left with nothing. By the Divines, this couldn't get much worse. This is more than you and I can handle."

"So you're just going to give up?" Aeros asked in disbelief.

Isran snorted. "When did I say that? We just need…" the man sighed, as if it pained him to say what followed next. "We need help."

He looked back up at Aeros. "If they're bold enough to attack us here, then this may be bigger than I thought. I have good men here, but…" he shook his head. "There are people I've worked with over the years. We need their skills, their talents, if we're going to survive this. If you can find them, we might have a chance."

"Who do we need, and where can I find them?" Aeros asked.

"Right to the point, aren't you." Isran said, amused slightly. "I like that. Not like those fools in the order. We should keep it small. Too many people and we'll draw unwanted attention to ourselves." Aeros couldn't help but nod in agreement to that.

"I think we'll want Sorine Jurard." Isran told him. "Breton girl, whip-smart and good with tinkering. Fascination with the Dwemer. Weapons in particular. Last I knew, she was out in the Reach, convinced she was about to find the biggest dwarven ruins yet."

Aeros couldn't help but wince. He hoped he wouldn't have to go into any dwarven ruins to find this Sorine. Gods, but he hated those ruins. "She'll help us?" he asked.

"Might need a little convincing, but she should. You'll also want to find Gunmar. Big brute of a Nord, hates vampires almost as much as I do. Got it into his head years back that his experience with animals would help. Trolls in particular, from what I hear. Last I knew he was out scouting Skyrim for more beasts to tame. Bring the two of them back here, and we can get started on coming up with a plan."

"Alright, Sorine and Gunmar. Got it." Aeros said, turning to leave. "Shouldn't be too hard to find them."

"Before you go, Aeros." Isran began, but seemed to stop himself.

"What is it?"

"Did you see any sign of Tolan at Dimhollow?" Isran asked.

"Yeah," Aeros answered slowly. Did Isran actually care about what had happened to Tolan. "I found him, but he was dead. It looked like he had just charged in. He managed to kill two of them though."

Isran nodded, as if he had expected to hear something of the kind. "Damn fool. I told him he wasn't up for this kind of thing, especially not with his mind clouded with grief and anger."

Aeros nodded, not sure what to say, before opening the doors and leaving.

Gunmar, it turned out, wasn't that hard to find. After traveling to Ivarstead and asking a few questions, Aeros found out there was a man matching Isran's description of Gunmar. According to the locals, he had taken a job to kill a bear that had been causing problems for the past couple weeks. After a few more questions, Aeros learned that the last anyone had seen of the man, he had been heading south towards Honeystrand Cave. Tossing a coin to the bartender in thanks, Aeros stood and left to find Gunmar.

Finding Honeystrand Cave was easy. It was right where the bartender had marked on his map. As he approached the cave entrance though, a man's voice called out.

"You there, hold fast!" Aeros turned to see a large Nord hurrying towards him. The man stopped in front of him. "My name is Gunmar. I've tracked this damned bear for two weeks; I'll not let it have anymore victims."

"Don't worry." Aeros chuckled. "I can handle myself. But more importantly, Isran needs your help."

"Isran? Needing someone's help? Never thought I'd hear that." Gunmar shook his head. "But he's a few years too late. I've moved on. I have more important business to attend to. Besides, he can handle anything alone! He assured me so himself. What could he possibly need my help with?"

Aeros shook his head in disbelief. Was there anyone Isran couldn't manage to piss off? "We're up against vampires." he told Gunmar. "A lot of vampires."

"Vampires?" Gunmar said consideringly. "That...well, that might change things. Tell me more about what's going on."

"We're not sure," Aeros said truthfully. "All we know is that they have an Elder Scroll."

"By the Eight… All right, look. I'll consider it, but I can't just leave this bear to prey on more innocent people. Once it's dealt with, then perhaps I'll see what Isran expects of me."

"I'll help you then." Aeros told him. If killing a bear helped convince Gunmar to help, then…

Gunmar nodded. "This way then. And be careful. The beast has already killed more than once."

The two of them entered the cave cautiously, weapons drawn and at the ready. But there was no sign of the bear. Right as Aeros turned to Gunmar to say so, he was bowled over by something, his sword skittering away from him across the cave floor.

Trying to keep the bear's jaws away from his head, Aeros turned his head trying to find Gunmar, and found him fending off two other bears. Knowing he wasn't going to be getting any help, and still trying to keep the bear from ripping him limb from limb, Aeros gathered magicka in his hands, forming a fireball that grew larger and larger, before slamming them against the bear's chest. The fireball exploded, propelling the thing several feet into the air and setting it alight. The bear hit the ground with a dull thud and did not stir.

Rolling to his feet, Aeros looked around for Gunmar again. The other Nord had wounded both of the other two bears but was now struggling to hold them off. Drawing his swords, Aeros rushed over to help, and it wasn't long before all three bears lay dead at their feet.

"Don't know how well I'd have managed by myself." Gunmar said as Aeros helped him back to his feet. "You have my thanks. You helped me, so I suppose the least I can do is find out what Isran wants. He's still at that fort near Stendarr's Beacon, I assume?"

"Yeah, he said to meet him at Fort Dawnguard."

Gunmar snorted in amusement. "Of course he did. He's been working on that place for years now. Never let's anyone in. His own little fortress. Well, I guess I'll see what he's been up to all this time. I'll meet you there."

Aeros nodded, and Gunmar left the cave. Now he just had to find Sorine. _Hopefully _she wasn't in a bunch of Dwemer ruins.

Luckily for Aeros, Sorine was aboveground this time. He found her not far from Markarth, near some kind of dwarven shrine or something. He could never tell with Dwemer things.

Just one gyro, one, and I can get back to work." he heard her mutter to herself as he approached. She turned to face him when he got close. "You haven't seen a sack full of dwarven gyros lying around, have you? I'd swear I left it right here."

"Do you think mudcrabs might've taken it? I saw one the other day...wouldn't surprise me if it followed me here."

"Uh, no. Sorry, but I haven't seen any gyros lying around." Aeros said, thrown off slightly. "Look, Isran sent me to find you." he said, trying to get things back on track.

"Isran? Wants me?" Sorine asked in disbelief. "No, you must be mistaken. He made it exceedingly clear the last time we spoke that he had no interest in my help. I find it hard to believe that he's changed his mind. He said some very hurtful things to me before I left. Anyway, I'm quite happy with my current pursuits. So if you'll excuse me…" she began to turn away.

"Wait! Just listen okay? Vampires are threatening all of Skyrim. We need your help."

"Vampires? Really?" Sorine asked, interested again. "Oh, and I suppose now he remembers that I proposed no less than three different scenarios that involved vampires overrunning the population. Well, what are they up to?"

"They have an Elder Scroll." Aeros said simply.

Sorine actually seemed shocked, which surprised him. "I...Well, that's actually something I never would have anticipated. Interesting. I'm not sure what they would do with one, but in this case Isran is probably correct in thinking it isn't good."

"So you'll help?"

"I guess so. If nothing else, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to learn more of what's going on so I can better defend myself. But I'm not just going to abandon what I've been working on here. It's too useful. I need at least one intact dwarven gyro. So either I need to find the satchel those mudcrabs stole, or I need another one from someplace. You wouldn't happen to have one, would you?"

"No, I don't." Aeros told her. "But I'll help you look for yours." The two of them looked around for a minute or two before Aeros managed to find the satchel down on the riverbank. He tossed it to Sorine. "Here, catch."

She caught it easily. Digging around inside, she pulled out a gyro. "Thanks. It's not much, but this will help a great deal with some of the things I've been researching. Now, where is it Isran expects me to go?"

"We're meeting at Fort Dawnguard."

"Ah, been working more on his secret hideout, has he? It'll be interesting to see how much progress he's made." Fishing around inside the satchel again, she pulled out another gyro. "I'll finish up here and head in that direction soon as I can. See you there."

Aeros said goodbye and left Sorine to her research, where she was already muttering something about "the calibrations of the machine." It was time to get back to Fort Dawnguard.

Aeros met Gunmar and Sorine at the gate. He had arrived about half an hour ago, but had decided to wait for Gunmar and Sorine before he entered the fort. He had to admit he had been surprised at how quickly things had changed while he had been gone. He had left not even two days ago to look for Sorine and Gunmar, but by the time he had returned, they had already erected a wooden palisade and gate, with guard platforms on either side of the gate.

"Sorine, Gunmar, I'm glad you decided to show up." he said as he greeted them. "I've seen what we're up against and we can use all the help we can get."

"Is it that bad?" Sorine asked.

"Maybe." Aeros told her. "Come on, I'm told Isran's waiting for us inside." They started walking up the path towards the fort. As they walked by several other Dawnguards, Aeros swore they were looking at him funny. But why?

As they entered the fort, Aeros could hear some kind of noise, like gears and chains clanking, but he couldn't figure out what was causing it. He walked into the center of the room with Sorine and Gunmar. Isran stood at the railing on the floor above them.

"All right Isran, you've got us all here. Now what do you want?" Gunmar asked, looking up at Isran.

"Hold it right there." Isran called out in reply. Almost at the same time, gates rose up around them, blocking them off from the rest of the fort, and a giant beam of sunshine fell down on them.

"What are you doing?" Sorine asked, shielding her eyes.

"Making sure you're not vampires." Isran told her. "Can't be too careful." He motioned to someone and the gates lowered, while at the same time the sunlight faded. "So, welcome to Fort Dawnguard. I'm sure you've heard a bit of what we're up against. Powerful vampires, unlike anything we've seen before. And they have an Elder Scroll. If anyone is going to stand in their way, it's going to be us."

"This is all well and good," Sorine spoke up, "but do we actually know anything about what they're doing? What do we do now?"

"We'll get to that." Isran said. "For now, get acquainted with the space. Sorine, you'll find room to start tinkering with that crossbow design you've been working on. Gunmar, there's an area large enough for you to pen up some trolls, get them armored up and ready to use."

The other two began walking away, to learn their way around the fort, and get working. Aeros made as if to follow, but Isran's voice stopped him.

"In the meantime, we're going to get to the bottom of why a vampire showed up here looking for you, Dragonborn."

* * *

Part 4 of Road to the Dawn! Just in case anyone's wondering, this arc is only going to include quests from the actual Dawnguard main questline with the exception of the quest to recruit Florentius, cause let's face it, who doesn't love Arkay's best friend? Other than that, there will be a few mention of side quests, but no actual chapter for any of them.

Characters:

Sorine Jurard: Breton chick obsessed with Dwemer technology, which she uses to upgrades your crossbow. Convinced mudcrabs stole her gyros.

Gunmar: Big Nord skilled in smithing and who believes in using trolls to help fight vampires. I like his way of thinking.

Dragon Language:

Fus Ro Dah = Force Balance Push (Unrelenting Force shout)


	5. Road to the Dawn 5

Road to the Dawn 5

"In the meantime, we're going to get to the bottom of why a vampire showed up here looking for you, Dragonborn." Aeros froze at Isran's words. A vampire here? Looking for him? What was going on?

"Let's go have a little chat with it, shall we?" Isran said, turning away from the railing. Aeros hurried up the stairs to where Isran was waiting.

"This way." The man said, turning and walking deeper into the fort. Aeros had no choice but to follow him.

The two of them entered what could only be an interrogation room, where Isran no doubt interrogated any vampires taken alive, as unlikely as that possibility was. But Aeros noted all of that absently. His attention was more focused on the other person in the room.

"Serana?" he said in shock.

"This vampire showed up while you were away." Isran said by way of explanation. "I'm guessing it's the one you found in Dimhollow Crypt. Says it's got something really important to say to you." He turned his attention to Serana, glaring. "So let's hear it."

Serana ignored Isran and gave Aeros a small smile. "You probably weren't expecting to see me again." she said.

Aeros couldn't help but laugh. "To be honest, no, I wasn't expecting to see you again. What are you doing here?"

"I'd rather not be here either, but I needed to talk to you. It's important, so please just listen before your friend here loses his patience. It's...well, it's about me. And the Elder Scroll that was buried with me."

"What about you?" Aeros couldn't help but ask.

"The reason I was down there...and why I had the Elder Scroll." She seemed to pause and take a deep breath. "It all comes back to my father. I'm guessing you figured this part out already, but my father's not exactly a good person, even by vampire standards."

"He wasn't always like that though. There was...a turn. He stumbled onto this obscure prophecy and just kind of lost himself in it."

"What sort of prophecy?" Aeros asked. In his experience, prophecies were very rarely a good thing.

"It's pointless and vague, like all prophecies. The part he latched onto said that vampires would no longer need to fear the sun. That's what he's after. He wants to control the sun, have vampires control the world."

"Control the sun?" Aeros said in disbelief. Serana nodded before continuing.

"Anyway, my mother and I didn't feel like inviting a war with all of Tamriel, so we tried to stop him. That's why I was sealed away with the Scroll."

"You took a big risk coming here to tell me this." Aeros said. To actually walk into a fort full of vampire hunters…

"I did." Serana agreed. "But something about you makes me think I can trust you. I hope I'm not wrong."

"Don't worry, you're not." Aeros promised her. "We just have to convince the others you're on our side."

"Well, let's move then. I'm nothing if not persuasive." Serana said confidently.

"All right, you've heard what it has to say." Isran broke in. "Now tell me, is there any reason I shouldn't kill this bloodsucking fiend right now?"

"Besides the fact that I won't let you?" Aeros said. "Because we're going to help her."

"Why, because of that story about the prophecy? About some vampire trying to put the sun out? Do you actually believe any of that?" Isran growled.

"Yes, I do." Aeros said bluntly. "Set your hatred aside for just a moment, and try to see the bigger picture, Isran."

"Set my hatred aside?" Isran scoffed. "Not a chance. It's what keeps me strong."

"You don't trust her, fine." Aeros growled in frustration. "Trust me then. I believe her. She risked her life just coming here, and I'm not going to ignore what she has to say just because she's a vampire. Especially not if it's concerning someone trying to conquer all of Tamriel."

"You'd better know what you're doing." Isran said warningly. "It can stay for now, but if it so much as lays a finger on anyone here, I'll hold you responsible. Got it?"

He turned to Serana. "You hear me? Don't you go feeling like a guest, because you're not. You're a resource. An asset. In the meantime, don't make me regret my sudden outburst of tolerance and generosity, because if you do, your friend here is going to pay for it."

"Thank you for your kindness." Serana said sarcastically. "I'll remember it the next time I'm feeling hungry."

Isran growled in disgust, but Serana ignored him. She turned back to Aeros. "Thanks for standing up for me." she said warmly.

"Don't worry about it." Aeros told her. "I wasn't about to let him try and kill you, especially not after you came all this way to find me."

She gave him a brief smile. "So in case you didn't notice the giant thing on my back, I have the Elder Scroll with me. Whatever it says, it'll have something that can help us stop my father. But of course, neither of us can read it."

"Any idea who can?" Aeros asked.

"Well, the Moth Priests are the only ones I've heard of who can do it. They spend years preparing before they start reading though. Not that it helps us anyway, because they're half a continent away in Cyrodiil."

"Great." Aeros groaned. "So we still have no one who can read the scroll, not unless we want to travel all the way to the Imperial City."

Isran spoke up then. "Maybe not. Some Imperial scholar arrived in Skyrim a few days ago. I was staking out the road and saw him pass by. Maybe that's your Moth Priest."

"Do you know where he's staying now?" Serana asked. Isran shook his head.

"No, and I'm not going to waste men looking. We're fighting a war against your kind and I intend to win it. You want to find him, try talking to someone who'd meet a traveler. Innkeepers and carriage drivers in the big cities maybe. But you're on your own." And with that, Isran stalked out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.

"So any idea how you're going to find a moth priest?" Serana asked Aeros. "Skyrim's a pretty big place."

"Not really." Aeros admitted. "I don't know very much about Moth Priests besides that they live in the Imperial City and are able to read the Elder Scrolls. Do you have any ideas?"

Serana looked thoughtful. "Well, back before I...you know. The College of Winterhold was the first place I'd think to go for any kind of magic or historical thing. The wizards know about all kind of things that people probably shouldn't know about. Actually, now that I think about it...I'm going to come along with you, if that's all right. I've been really wanting to get out and explore a bit."

"The College huh? Well, if the Moth Priest has been there, then it won't be too hard to find out. But if you really want to come with me, then I'd be glad to have you." Aeros told her.

"We better get moving then. It's a long way from here to Winterhold." The two of them walked down the stairs together.

They reached Winterhold the next day. As they walked through what was left of the town, Serana gazed about in shock.

"Something wrong?" Aeros asked her.

"Not really." Serana said. "It's just...when I was here last it wasn't so...crumbly. This used to be a city."

"I've heard that this used to rival Solitude in terms of power and influence in Skyrim." Aeros said, looking around sadly. "About eighty years ago though, a bunch of seemingly never-ending storms engulfed the hold, and the ground beneath most of the city began to collapse and slide into the Sea of Ghosts. The College believes that it was a result of the eruption of Red Mountain, but unfortunately, because of the fact that the College escaped the disaster almost completely unharmed, most of the locals believe the Great Collapse was the result of College mages experimenting. Which has only made most Nords' suspicion of magic worse."

As Aeros and Serana talked, they walked across the bridge and entered the College grounds. A few mages nodded respectfully and greeted their Arch-Mage. Aeros returned their greetings but kept walking. Leading the way, Aeros entered the Arcanaeum. Unfortunately though, there was no sign of Urag gro-Shub, the librarian.

Sending a mage to go find the Orc, Aeros settled down in a chair to wait. Serana sat down across from him. The two of them sat in silence for a while, until Aeros asked a question that he had been thinking about for a while.

"So, uh…have you always…" he trailed off, not quite sure how to ask this.

"Have I what?" Serana asked. "Say what it is you want, I promise I won't bite." She smiled mischievously. "This time."

"Have you...always been a vampire?" Aeros finally managed to ask.

Serana blinked, then shrugged uncomfortably. "That's...a long story."

"I'd like to hear it."

She sighed. "I guess...we kind of have to go way back. To the very beginning. Do you know where vampirism came from?"

Aeros shrugged. "I don't know much about it, but I'm guessing it came from a daedric lord, like lycanthropy."

"Exactly! The first vampire came from Molag Bal. She...was not a willing subject. But she was still the first. Molag Bal is a powerful daedric lord, and his will is made reality. For those willing to subjugate themselves, he will bestow the gift, but they must be powerful in their own right before earning his trust."

"How did you become a vampire then?"

"The ceremony was...degrading." Serana seemed to shudder at some memory. "Let's not revisit that. But we all took part in it. Not exactly wholesome family activity, but I guess it's something you do when you give yourself to a daedric lord."

"How has it affected your family?" Aeros asked. "That kind of power…"

"Well, you've met most of us. My father's not exactly the most stable, and eventually he drove my mother crazy with him. And it all ended with me being locked underground for who knows how long. It's definitely been a bad thing on the whole." She seemed saddened by the thought of it. Aeros couldn't help but feel sympathy for her.

"Are you all right?" he asked, concerned.

Serana seemed to pull herself back together. "I will be." She smiled faintly. "Just...give me a little time"

Aeros smiled supportingly, but before either of them could say anything else, the doors to the Arcanaeum opened and Urag entered.

"Arch-Mage, it's good to see you! What can I do for you today?"

"It's good to see you too Urag." Aeros laughed. "I'm here about a Moth Priest. I need to find one."

"A Moth Priest? What in Oblivion do you need a Moth Priest for?"

"Nothing major." Aeros lied. "I just want to ask him a few questions about something."

"Right." Urag said, unconvinced. "Well, I've been here at the College long enough to know not to ask too many questions. The obvious answer is to go to the Imperial City. The Moth Priests make their home in the White Gold Tower. But sometimes they go out looking for Elder Scrolls. Lucky for you, there's a Moth Priest in Skyrim right now, doing just that."

"Any idea where he is?" Aeros asked.

"He stopped in to do some research in the library, then left for Dragon Bridge. If you hurry, you might catch him there."

"Thanks Urag." Aeros said, motioning for Serana to follow him. "That's all I needed to know."

They exited the library and walked out the doors of the college. "So you're the Arch-Mage of the College?" Serana asked curiously as they walked across the bridge.

"Yeah," Aeros chuckled, "Among other things."

"Do you really think we'll find the Moth Priest at Dragon Bridge?"

"I hope so. I really don't want to have to chase a Moth Priest all across Skyrim."

Aeros found his horse and climbed on. Offering his hand to Serana, he pulled her up behind him. "We'll need to move fast." he warned her, putting the horse into a canter. Serana threw her arms around his waist as they started moving, still not used to the movement of a horse after so long underground.

They reached Dragon Bridge early the next morning. The small village was just beginning to stir as they arrived, a few people carrying out early chores and a handful of guards the only people out and about.

"Let's try one of the guards." Aeros suggested, tying his horse to a post outside the village's inn. Seranna nodded in agreement.

They walked towards a nearby guard, who turned as they approached. "Well, if it isn't the slayer of the Glenmoril witches! How can I assist you, Companion?"

Ignoring Serana's curious look at him, Aeros asked the guard "Do you know anything about a Moth Priest visiting Dragon Bridge?"

"Ah, so that was a Moth Priest, then? He rode through town not long ago with an escort of soldiers. They didn't stop, just headed south across the Dragon Bridge."

Aeros thanked the man, and him and Serana headed towards the bridge. Once they were on the other side, they began looking for signs of the Moth Priest.

"Let's hope they didn't get that far." Serana said. "A scholar and an entire escort of soldiers probably don't move that fast right?"

Aeros started to nod in agreement, but Serana stopped suddenly. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I smell blood." she told him. "A lot of it, right up ahead of us." The two of them exchanged worried glances before running around the bend.

They soon found the source. Lying on its side was an abandoned carriage, the horses that pulled it dead not that far away. Bodies were scattered along the road.

"What happened here?" Aeros asked aloud as he knelt down to examine the body of an Imperial soldier. "This looks like it was the site of an ambush, but why would anyone want to attack a Moth Priest?"

"Aeros." Serana called. "Some of these bodies are vampires. They must have kidnapped the Moth Priest."

Aeros came over and knelt down next to her, searching the dead vampire. It didn't take long to find a note on the body. He unfolded it.

"What does it say?" Serana asked, looking over his shoulder.

"I have new orders for you." Aeros read aloud. "Prepare an ambush just south of Dragon Bridge. Take the Moth Priest to Forebears' Holdout for safekeeping until I can break his will. -Malkus." He turned the note over, but there was nothing else written.

"Forebears' Holdout? I think that's nearby. Come on, let's hurry!"

The two of them hurried along the road. Finally they saw something off to the right, what looked like standing stones. Scrambling up the small rock wall they found the entrance to a cave at the end of the stone pillars.

Entering the cave, they moved along the passageway and found themselves in a large cavern. Across a small creek that ran through the cave was a stone holdout. Aeros could see several vampires and thralls walking along the ramparts. At the far end of the cave, Aeros and Serana could just barely make out some sort of magical barrier.

Moving quickly, Aeros and Serana dispatched the two death hounds guarding the bridge. Sheltering under the gateway, they watched a thrall walk by as they tried to determine their next move.

"How do you want to do this?" Serana whispered.

"I'd say as stealthily as possible," Aeros replied, "but I don't think we have that much time. That letter said something about 'breaking his will.'"

"So we just charge in and cause as much destruction as possible?" Serana smirked. "I like that."

Giving her a grin in return, Aeros kicked off and charged into the open, a fireball leaving his hand before the thrall even turned around. The spell exploded on impact, engulfing the thrall in flames. Looking up, he saw another thrall aiming an arrow at his head. Before he could react, an ice spike shot past him and hit the thrall in the chest. Aeros gave Serana a smile in thanks before rushing the next foe.

The two of them fought their way through the courtyard and up the stairs in the adjoining tower. Reaching the top, they found two vampires standing in front of the barrier. Inside they could make out the figure of a man.

"How much longer can you keep this up, Moth Priest? Your mind was strong, but you're exhausted from the struggle." One of the vampires said.

"Must...resist…" the man inside the barrier groaned.

"Yes, I can feel your defenses crumbling. You want it to end. You want to give in to me. Now, acknowledge me as your master!"

The Moth Priest seemed to stop struggling. "Yes. Master." he said in a voice filled with nothing but the desire to serve.

"Shit!" Aeros swore, charging forward. The vampires turned, surprise on their faces, but that lasted only a moment before they attacked.

Sidestepping a bolt of lightning, Aeros cut down one of the vampires. Dashing towards the lead vampire, an orc who Aeros assumed was Malkus, Aeros swung his swords. Unfortunately, he forgot about the orc's brute strength. Malkus managed to dodge one of the blades, but the other one bit into his side. Grunting, he grasped at the sword, but was blasted by a volley of lightning from Serana before he could pull it out.

The two of them turned to examine the magical barrier in front of them. Aeros knelt down and began probing with his magic for a weak point.

"Anything?" Serana asked. Aeros shook his head. "I can't break through this on my own. It's way too strong for one, or even two people. But it looks like there should be some kind of key or focus to the spell. If we can find that, and find the matching lock, we should be able to shut down the spell."

Before he could stand back up, Serana reached down and plucked something from Malkus' corpse. "You mean this?" she said, holding out a glowing weystone. He grinned at her and accepted the stone from her.

"Now we just need to find the source for the spell." he said.

That didn't prove all that hard to do. It only took them a minute or two to find a glowing weystone up on a stone platform, with a slot in the top. Inserting the focus, the two of them stepped back. With a loud rumble, the weystones maintaining the barrier began to sink into the floor, the barrier dispelling.

"Well," Aeros said, "all that's left now is to-"

"I serve my master's will." the Moth Priest said, "But my master is dead, and his enemies must pay!" At which point he proceeded to shoot a fireball at Aeros' head.

Aeros managed to duck his head just in time, but now had to deal with a murderous Moth Priest. "What's wrong with him?" he yelled, dodging another fireball.

"His mind is enthralled!" Serana yelled back. "We have to break the hold the vampires have on his mind. But the only way to do that is to actually fight him!"

"So I have to fight someone who wants to kill me, while trying not to kill them?" Aeros said dryly. "This should be interesting."

Drawing his swords, Aeros pressed back against the Moth Priest, striking blow after blow in a furious assault. Finally he disarmed the Moth Priest, his sword clattering against the stone a few feet away. The man staggered and fell to his knees

"Wait, stop!' he cried out. "I yield." Aeros held back the blow he had been about to deliver, and sheathed his swords.

The Moth Priest seemed to have regained awareness. "That...that wasn't me you were fighting. I could see through my eyes, but I could not control my actions. Thank you for breaking that foul vampire's hold over me."

"Are you alright?" Aeros couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, I am now, thanks to you. My name is Dexion Evicus. I'm a Moth Priest from the White Gold Tower. These vampires claimed they had some purpose in store for me, but they wouldn't say what. Probably hoping to ransom me, the fools."

"I know why they needed you," Aeros told him, "and it wasn't for a ransom. And we need you for the same purpose."

"You do? Alright then, enough mysteries. What is this all about?"

"I'll explain as best I can. Time is short. We're with a group called the Dawnguard, and we need you to read an Elder Scroll so we can stop a group of vampires from taking over the world."

"You have an Elder Scroll? Remarkable!" Dexion sounded pleasantly surprised. "If my knowledge of history serves me, I recall that the Dawnguard was an ancient order of vampire hunters. I will be happy to assist you with your Elder Scroll. Just tell me where I need to go."

Aeros was surprised by Dexion's knowledge. Not very many people knew much about the Dawnguard's past beyond a few fragments, even amongst its members. "The rest of the order is at Fort Dawnguard, near Stendarr's Beacon." Aeros told him. "We'll go with you, to make sure there aren't any more attacks."

"Very well. I will wait for you outside. We best not wait around here too long, before more of those vampires show up."

As Dexion began making his way back to the entrance of the cave, Aeros let out a huge sigh of relief. Serana looked at him questioningly. "I'm just glad he decided to help us." he explained. "I don't know what we would have done if he had refused."

"Oh." Serana blinked. "I never thought of that. But from what I've heard of the Moth Priests, he would have been willing to do just about anything to get his hands on an Elder Scroll."

"But how did these vampires know about Dexion?"

"No doubt it has something to do with my father. He probably contacted all the other vampire clans in Skyrim and told them to look for a Moth Priest. He probably offered them a position in his court."

"Great. Do they know we have the Scroll yet?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. At least not yet."

"Well that's a relief at least. Now, we better go join Dexion and get back to the fort."

Aeros, Serana, and Dexion managed to make it back to Fort Dawnguard safely, with no sign of vampire pursuers. Isran was waiting for them inside the fort.

"I'm impressed you managed to find a Moth Priest so quickly." he said.

"Luckily we weren't too late. Is everything ready?"

"For the reading? Yeah. Just let the old man know when you're ready."

Aeros nodded and looked around for Dexion. The Moth Priest was gazing around with obvious interest. "Are you ready to read the Elder Scroll, Dexion?"

"Oh, most certainly! Let's find out what secrets the Scroll can tell." Aeros nodded to Serana and she handed Dexion the Elder Scroll.

"Excellent! Now, if everyone will please be quiet, I must concentrate." Dexion unrolled the Scroll slowly. Aeros almost expected a glow or odd symbols to appear, like when he had read an Elder Scroll, but he couldn't see any odd effects, just a look of concentration on Dexion's face.

"I see a vision before me, an image of a great bow." Dexion said aloud. "I know this weapon! It is Auriel's Bow! Now a voice whispers, saying "Among the night's children, a dread lord will rise. In an age of strife, when dragons return to the realm of men, darkness will mingle with light, and the night and day shall be as one." The voice fades and the words begin to shimmer and distort. But wait, there is more here. The secret to the bow's power is written elsewhere. I think there is more to the prophecy recorded in other scrolls."

"Yes, I see them now. One contains the ancient secrets of the dragons, and the other speaks of the potency of ancient blood. My vision darkens, and I see no more. To know the complete prophecy, we must have the other two scrolls." Something seemed to drain out of the man, and he sagged with sudden weariness. "I must rest now." he said, slowly closing the Scroll. "The reading has made me weary."

"Come on, old man." Isran said, supporting the Moth Priest. "You should get some rest. I'll have some quarters prepared for you." He led Dexion away.

As soon as Isran and Dexion were gone, Serana approached Aeros. "Do you have a moment to talk?" she said.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, turning to face her. She seemed...hesitant.

"That Moth Priest, Dexion. He said we need two more Elder Scrolls. I think I know where we can start looking."

"As good as that is to hear, why didn't you say something earlier?" Aeros had to ask.

"Half the people in your little crew would just as soon kill me as talk to me. That doesn't exactly make me want to open up." A deaf man could have heard the sarcasm in her voice. "I got a warmer welcome from my father, and that's saying something."

"What is it between you two? For someone who's supposed to be your father, you really don't seem to get along."

"I know." she sighed. "Ever since he decided to make that prophecy his calling, we kind of drifted apart. I don't think he even sees me as his daughter anymore. I'm just...a means to an end."

"I'm sorry." Aeros said sympathetically. "I shouldn't have brought it up." Deciding to change the subject, he asked "So where is this Elder Scroll?"

"We need to find my mother, Valerica. She'll definitely know where it is, and if we're lucky, she actually has it herself."

"You said you didn't know where she went."

"I didn't. But the last time I saw her, she said she'd go somewhere safe...somewhere that my father would never search. Other than that, she wouldn't tell me anything. But the way she said it…"someplace he'd never search." It was cryptic, yet she called attention to it."

"Sounds like she was being cautious."

"Maybe. What I can't figure out is why she said it that way. Besides, I can't imagine a single place my father would avoid looking. And he's had all this time, too. I'll try to think of where she might have gone. In the meantime, how are we going to find this other Elder Scroll, the one containing the 'secrets of the dragons?' Elder Scrolls are extremely rare, and besides the two my family possessed, the only other place I would know where to look is the...what's so funny?" she demanded, glaring at Aeros, who was laughing and failing in his attempt to hide the wide grin on his face.

"I might just know where we can find that Elder Scroll."

* * *

Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long, I got distracted with other things, and for some reason this chapter took longer to write than previous ones. But it's done, and hopefully the other chapters are faster.

Characters:

Urag gro-Shub: Orc librarian who runs the College's Arcanaeum with an iron fist. Doesn't put up with any nonsense, especially concerning his books.

Malkus: Vampire who orchestrates Dexion's kidnapping in the hopes of a place of power in Harkon's court. Also the only known Orsimer vampire in Skyrim.

Dexion: Moth Priest who's in Skyrim in search of an Elder Scroll. Once you rescue him from the vampires, he reads the Elder Scroll for you. Unfortunately he goes blind as a result. If his blindness is permanent remains to be seen.

Dragon Language: None used.


	6. Road to the Dawn 6

"Gods damn it?" Aeros swore. "How the hell did I manage to misplace something like an Elder Scroll?" He continued digging through various chests and drawers.

Serana sat in a corner of the room, watching Aeros search the various containers in the room. "So how is it again that you happen to have an Elder Scroll of all things just _lying_ around your house?"

"That's a long story." Aeros said distractedly, moving to another chest. "Jordis!" he yelled. "Are you sure I put it in here?"

"Yes, my thane!" she hollered up the stairs. "You said you wanted to keep it here for safekeeping while you decided what to do with it."

"I know that," Aeros muttered, "but _where _did I put it? It has to be here somewh-Ah ha! Found it!" He waved the scroll in the air triumphantly. "Now I remember. I wanted to make sure it was secure so I put it in the safe."

"You put it in a safe in your house?" Serana asked incredulously. "Isn't that a bit careless? I mean, there are thieves, and plenty of other people who would love to get their hands on an Elder Scroll."

Aeros smirked. "That's why I left a little surprise for anyone who tried to open it but me. You learn quite a few useful tricks at the College. Especially when you're the Arch-Mage."

The two of them walked down the stairs to the first floor. Jordis was sitting at a table eating an apple. "Thanks Jordis." Aeros said as they walked by. "I wouldn't have found it without you."

"I'm glad I could help, my thane." she replied, taking another bite. "But maybe next time, put it somewhere you'll actually remember?" The two women laughed at the sheepish look on his face. "I'll try to keep that in mind next time, Jordis." he said with as much dignity as he could muster, which only made the two laugh even more.

Once they finally got outside, Aeros and Serana stood on Proudspire Manor's patio. "I've been wondering," Serana began.

"About what?" Aeros asked as they walked down the steps. There were a few people walking past them on the street. A group of hooded strangers walked past.

"About who exactly are you Aeros?"

"What do you mean?" he said, not following.

"You're a thane of Solitude, with your own manor and own personal housecarl. You're a member of the Dawnguard, the Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, and evidently you're also part of the Companions. Not only that, but you're one of the best fighters I've seen, if not the best, and you sound like you have experience with war. So again, who are you?"

"Well," Aeros said slowly, rubbing the back of his head. "I might also be thane of the other eight holds as well...and I'm actually the Harbinger of the Companions…" he trailed off under Serana's stare. "Alright, alright," he said, "I get it. Truth is, I'm actually-" All of a sudden he noticed the group of hooded travelers was moving in their direction. Something about them…

One of them lunged forward suddenly, a dagger in his hand. Aeros pushed Serana out of the way. "ZUN!" he shouted, causing the dagger to fly out of the man's hand. The rest of the group surged forward now, drawing weapons. "Die Dawnguard!" he heard one of them scream.

"FUS RO DAH!"

The vampires flew backwards, giving Serana and him some breathing room. He helped her to her feet and drew his swords.

"You know," he said aloud, advancing slowly towards the vampires, "I really don't like being attacked right outside my house. Especially not when I'm trying hold a conversation. It tends to piss me off."

More than a few of the vampires backed away at the look in his eyes. They had been told that this was a weak and pathetic mortal, maybe stronger than most, but still prey. What they found themselves facing though, felt more like a dragon. A very angry dragon.

Not all of them were afraid though. Having picked themselves off the ground, a handful of them charged forward, brandishing weapons and magic. Their charge spurred the others into action, and they followed close behind.

Aeros grinned, and charged forward with a yell. He met the vampires head on.

The fight didn't last long. A few minutes later, the vampires were all dead, and Serana and Aeros stood breathing heavily. Serana was the first to catch her breath and she stared at Aeros wide-eyed.

"That...that was a Shout." she said in shock. "A th'um, like what the dragons and ancient Nord heroes used. How are you able to use it?"

"Yeah," Aeros said slowly. "It was. And I can use it, well, because I'm the Dragonborn."

"The Dragonborn?" Serana said in disbelief. "Isn't that-?"

"The hero destined to fight the dragon Alduin World-Eater and stop him from destroying the world? Yep, that's me." He chuckled.

"That...that explains a lot." Serana said thoughtfully. "So you got that Elder Scroll while trying to stop Alduin?"

"Yeah, I needed it to learn a Shout that would help me in my fight with him. But we can talk more on the way. We've got one scroll, now we just need to find the other. Still no ideas on where to find your mother?"

No." Serana sighed. "I've thought of everywhere she might possibly have hid, but they're all places my father would have looked long ago. Do you have any ideas?"

"Hmm…" Aeros thought about it. If he didn't want to be found by someone, where would he hide? "What about in Castle Volkihar?" he suggested.

"Wait...that almost makes sense!" Serana said excitedly. "There's a courtyard in the castle. I used to help her tend a garden there. All of the ingredients of our potions came from there. She used to say that my father couldn't stand the place. Too...peaceful."

"Isn't that pretty risky, staying around the castle?" Aeros asked. It was what he would do, but most of his friends and comrades seemed to think a lot of his ideas were crazy. Okay, so maybe a few of them hadn't turned out the way he planned...

"Oh, absolutely." Serana said. "But my mother's not a coward. That is...I don't actually think we'll trip over her there. But it's worth a look."

"They aren't exactly going to let us use the front door." Aeros pointed out.

"True." Serana smirked. "But I know a way we can get to the courtyard without arousing suspicion. There's an unused inlet on the northern side of the island that was used by the previous owners to bring supplies into the castle. An old escape tunnel exists there. I think that's our way in."

"A secret entrance into the castle? Sounds like fun. Let's get going then!" Aeros started walking down the street determinedly.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Serana asked. "You've only been to the castle once."

"Of course I know where I'm going!" Aeros said confidently. "I'm the Dragonborn, remember?"

Serana smiled to herself and couldn't help but poke fun at his self-assured attitude. "You mean the Dragonborn who couldn't remember where he left an Elder Scroll?" She burst out into laughter when he stumbled and almost fell.

"Alright, Ms. Smartass, let's just get out of here and find that last Elder Scroll." Serana's laughter subsided into giggling at his attempt to maintain his dignity.

Leaving Solitude turned out to be a little more difficult than they had thought, since General Tullius had a couple questions about why one of his legates was involved in a battle in the streets. Eventually though, Serana and Aeros managed to talk their way out of things and actually leave the city.

Aeros actually did manage to remember the way, and it wasn't long before they once again found themselves facing the bridge to Castle Volkihar.

"Alright, Serana, we're here. Now how do we get in?"

"This way." Serana said. "We'll go along the side of the castle, that way no one sees us. Come on." She started running along the beach. Aeros shrugged and followed her.

The two of them ran along the beach for a while before finally they saw the abandoned inlet. Spotting something, Aeros pulled Serana back around the corner just in time. An arrow ricocheted off of the rock wall behind where she had just been standing.

"Thanks." she said, smiling at him.

"No problem." Aeros told her, looking around the corner. "Besides, I'm sure you'll return the favor eventually."

"Knowing you?" she smirked. "It probably won't be that long until I do."

"Hey!" Aeros complained. "I can take care of myself! Most of the time… Anyways, there's four skeletons up there, the same kind we ran into at Dimhollow. Obviously, we don't have the element of surprise anymore, and we can't sneak past them."

"So that only leaves one option doesn't it?" Serana said knowingly. "Charging in and causing as much chaos and destruction as possible." She laughed, and shook her head. "Honestly, I think you like to do it this way."

"Well, this armor isn't all that great for sneaking." Aeros admitted, chuckling. "And besides, where's the fun in sneaking past all of them?"

"You Nord men are always the same." Serana said with mock severity. "Always preferring to attack head on. But I wouldn't have it any other way." She grinned. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go kill some skeletons!" Aeros laughed and charged in after her.

Dispatching one skeleton, Aeros turned and saw Serana finishing off another. Noticing something out of the corner of his eye, Aeros saw a skeleton aiming an arrow at Serana. "FO KRAH DIIN!" he shouted. The skeleton was blown apart by a blast of cold. The final skeleton was impaled by an ice spike from Serana.

"That's done then." Aeros said, sheathing his swords. "Now where's this secret entrance?"

"It's up these stairs." Serana said, pointing. "There's a door that leads into the castle's undercroft. We'll need to be careful in there. No one ever goes down there, so there's all kind of nasty things living there."

The two of them opened the door into the undercroft and entered cautiously. The only thing there that they could see was a skeever, but it ran away at the sight of them. The two of them moved quietly. Opening another door, Aeros almost gagged at the stench that assaulted his nose.

"The old water cistern." Serana explained. "On some days this place would smell just...be glad you weren't here then." She walked past him into the room.

It used to smell _worse _than this? Sometimes he wished that his werewolf blood didn't make his nose so keen…wait, was there something else underneath the smell of sewer?

"Hold on, Serana!" he said. "There's something else here besides us."

"Like what? There's nothing down here but a few skeevers." Almost as if to prove her wrong, right at that moment three death hounds charged around the corner, followed by a vampire.

Not even batting an eyelash, Serana spun around and attacked with spell and dagger. It all lasted a few seconds, and at the end, Serana stood surrounded by bodies.

Aeros whistled in appreciation, impressed.. "Remind me to never make you angry."

Serana laughed. "I'll remember to do that. Come on, the switch for this bridge is up here."

Following her up the stairs, Aeros watched as she pulled the lever for the bridge.

"Did you spend a lot of time down here?" Aeros asked. "You seem to really know your way around."

"I liked to explore. My parents almost never let me off the island, so yeah, I poked around down here a lot. It was a little...quieter...back then. Guess a little vampire girl was enough to scare off the rats."

"It sounds like you were a weird little kid." Aeros said in amusement.

"I was." Serana, smiling slightly. "But I think I turned out okay."

"More than okay, I'd say. But that must have been lonely, being by yourself so much."

"It was." Serana said sadly. "But when you grow up the way I did, you get used to it.

"Why didn't your parents try to help?"

Well, you've already met my father and seen how obsessed he is. My mother wasn't a whole lot better, by the end. That's why I like travelling with you. Having someone else there, someone who actually cares...it makes things less lonely. But...what about you?

"What about me?"

"Do you ever get lonely? Are there...people in your life?"

"Well, I have lots of friends now, from all over Skyrim."

"What are they like?"

"Well, you've met some of them, at the College and Solitude. As for some of the other…" he told her about some of his friends in the Companions and the Legion, and a few others, all of whom sounded rather eccentric.

Serana had to laugh at some of the people he described. They sounded exactly like the kind of people Aeros would be friends with. "What about your family?" she asked. "Do you have one?"

Aeros stopped, and slowly shook his head. "No, not anymore." he said quietly. "I miss them."

He didn't say anything else, but when he looked up at her, Serana was taken aback at the look of pain and regret in his eyes. What had happened to his family to give him such a look?

Realizing it was best to change the subject, Serana pointed out the passageway to their left.

"We need to take a left up here. This is one of those weird double-barred security measures that my father put in when he got more paranoid. If we follow that path around, we can find the other switch for the rest of the bridge."

Aeros nodded and they moved down the passageway. They passed through what could only be where the leftovers from the grand hall were dumped. The room was filled with bones, some bleached white, others with blood still on them. Climbing some stairs, they found the room with the lever. Easily dispatching the giant spider that had decided to call the room home, Aeros pulled the second switch. Through a barred window, they saw the other half of the bridge drop.

Once they were on the other side of the bridge, they started walking up a passageway.

"This leads out to the courtyard." Serana said from behind him. "Just head for the door."

At the end of the passage, they found the door. Pulling it open, the two of them stepped outside.

"We've made it to the courtyard." Serana started to say but stopped as she saw what lay before them. "Oh no… What happened to this place? Everything's been torn down...the whole place looks…well, dead. It's like we're the first to set foot here in centuries." All around them were withered trees and plants, most of them brown and dying. The whole place was covered in moss, and even one of the towers was collapsed. All in all, the place looked dead and in serious disrepair. For some reason, there was a giant sundial in the middle of the courtyard that looked relatively untouched.

Walking slowly around the courtyard, Serana stopped in front of what must have been a doorway, but was now blocked off by a huge pile of boulders and debris

"This used to lead into the castle's grand hall. From the looks of it, my father must have had it sealed up." She gazed around sadly. "I used to walk through here after evening meals. It was beautiful, once."

She knelt down in front of a small walled off area filled with various plants. "This was my mother's garden. It...do you know how beautiful something can be when it's been tended by a master for hundreds of years? She would have hated to see it like this. " The sorrow in her voice made Aeros want to reach out and hold her, to tell her it was alright.

"Wait…" she said, getting up and walking back towards the center of the courtyard. "Something's wrong with the moondial here. Some of the crests are missing and the dial is askew. I didn't even know the crests _could _be removed. Maybe my mother's trying to tell us something? The moondial definitely wasn't like this the last time I saw it."

Moondial? Is that what that was? Now that he thought about it, that made a lot more sense for a castle of vampires than a sundial.

"Well, let's see if we can find them." Aeros said. "If your mother is trying to tell us something, than this is the only way to find out."

As the two of them searched for the missing crest, Aeros had to ask "What's so special about the moondial?"

"Well, as far as I'm aware, it's the only one in existence." Serana told him, searching behind a bush. "The previous owners of the castle had a sundial in the courtyard, and obviously that didn't appeal to my mother. She persuaded an elven artisan to make some improvements. You can see the plates that show the phases of the moons, Masser and Secunda."

"Does it even work?"

"That's the thing...what's the point of a moondial? I always wondered why she didn't just have the whole thing ripped out. But she loved it. I don't know...I suppose it's like having a piece of art, if you're into that sort of thing."

"Ah ha!" Aeros exclaimed, "Here's the last one."

Together, they gathered up the three missing crests and placed them in the right places. Stepping back, they felt the ground rumble slightly as the moondial rotated seemingly on its own. As it did, the stone around it sank down, forming stairs that led down underneath the moondial. At the bottom they found a door that opened up into a tunnel.

"Very clever, mother. Very clever." Serana said, obviously just as impressed as Aeros. "I've never been in these tunnels before, but if I had to bet I'd guess they run right under the courtyard and into the tower ruins. Well, at least we're getting closer. Let's go.

The tunnel quickly ran into a dead end though, with nothing but a wall at the end. Or at least, that's what they thought until Serana noticed a pull chain off to the side. As they pulled it, the wall in front of them slowly lowered.

"Just what was my mother up to in here?" Serana wondered aloud.

"Do you know this place?"

"No, not really. I had always just assumed that the other tower was completely destroyed inside. My mother kept this a secret, even from me. She must have been up to something she thought was dangerous. But we need to be careful. I don't know what might be around."

They made their way through the passageway, running into enemies here and there. Mostly skeletons, with the occasional gargoyle, it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. After entering a room and having almost every single statue in there explode into gargoyles though, Aeros turned to Serana.

"Did your mother keep gargoyles here? Because they are really starting to get on my nerves.

She shook her head. "Not that I ever saw. Although my mother did have a bit of a thing for magical constructs." She must have seen the look on Aeros's face, because she quickly clarified. "Not...not what you're thinking. She just found them fascinating."

The two of them searched the room, but couldn't find anything. "Is this it?" Aeros asked.

"No, I don't think we've reached the top yet. I bet there's some kind of secret passage around here."

They looked around some more, but couldn't find any hidden levers or switches. Just when they were about to give up, Aeros noted something odd about the fireplace.

"I just noticed," he said, "why is there a fireplace here? It's not that cold, so there's no need for it."

"That's a good point." Serana said thoughtfully, giving the fireplace a more careful inspection. "And even if it were neccesary, why are these two candlesticks here? They're so out of place." She reached out and pulled on one. To their surprise, it rotated until it was completely upside down. Once it was, they could hear a rumbling as the fireplace slid back and moved out of the way.

"Leave it to my mother...always smarter than I gave her credit for."

Climbing the stairs that were behind the false fireplace, the two of them found themselves facing another door. Pushing it open, they found themselves entering what could only be a laboratory.

"Look at this place." Serana said in shock. "This has to be it! I knew she was deep into necromancy. I mean, she taught me everything I know. But I had no idea she had a setup like this." She walked over to a nearby table with bones scattered all over it. "Look at all this. She must have spent years collecting all these components."

She turned to examine the strange shape in the center of the room, what looked like a giant circle made up of multiple rings. Whatever it was, it seemed to be almost separate from the rest of the floor. "And what's this thing? I'm not sure about the circle, but it's obviously...something."

"Come on, let's take a look around. There has to be something around here that'll tell us where's she's gone." She started rifling through the contents of the table.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Aeros asked, examining what was laying on another table.

"My mother was meticulous about her research." Serana told him. "If we can find her notes, we might be able to find some hints in there. I remember she used to keep a small journal. See if you can dig it up."

Aeros nodded and started looking for the journal. Finally he found it on one of the bookshelves. He walked over to where Serana was going through various alchemical materials.

"I think I found your mother's notes."

"You did?" she asked excitedly. "Let me see them." He handed her the small red journal he had found.

As looked through it, Aeros read over her shoulder. "What's this "Soul Cairn" that she mentions?" he asked. He had never heard of it before, even at the College.

"I only know what she told me. She had a theory about soul gems. That the souls inside them don't just vanish when they're used...they end up in the Soul Cairn."

"Why did she care where used souls went?" It seemed like a waste of time.

"The Soul Cairn is home to very powerful beings." Serana explained. "Necromancers send them souls, and receive powers of their own in return. My mother spent a lot of time trying to contact them directly, to travel to the Soul Cairn itself."

Don't worry," Aeros told her. "If she made it there, we'll find her."

"I hope so. That circle in the center of the room is definitely some kind of portal. If I'm reading this right, there's a formula that should give us safe passage into the Soul Cairn.

"What do we need?"

"Let's see. According to this, we need a handful of soul gem shards, some finely ground bone meal, a good bit of purified void salts… Oh...damn it…"

"What's wrong?" Were they missing something?

"We're also going to need a sample of her blood. Which...if we could get that, we wouldn't even be trying to do this in the first place."

You're her daughter." he pointed out. "Don't you share some of her blood?"

"Hmmm." Serana pursed her lips thoughtfully. That might just work. We'd better hope that's good enough. Mistakes with these kind of portals can be...gruesome. Anyway, enough of that. Let's get started."

"Are we sure all the ingredients are here?" he asked.

"Definitely." she assured him. "Knowing my mother, she would have made sure to keep plenty of extra around in case she needed it."

It took a while to gather all the components, as they had to search through all of the other alchemical ingredients just to find them. Eventually though, they found everything they needed and placed them in the portal vessel.

"Then the rest is up to me." Serana said, taking a deep breath. "Are you ready to go? I'm not entirely sure what this thing is going to do when I add my blood."

"Yeah, I'm ready. But can I ask you something first?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"What will you do if we find your mother?" Aeros asked hesitantly.

Serana sighed, and shook her head. "I've been asking myself the same thing since we came back to the castle. The truth is, I don't know. She was so sure of what we did to my father, I couldn't help but go along with her. I never thought of the cost…"

"That sounds pretty selfish of her."

"She wasn't always like that. But I think you're right. She was practically smirking when we left home. Almost like she was proud of herself. Like she didn't just want to stop my father...she wanted to stick it to him too."

"We won't know until we find her."

"Yeah...yeah, you're right." Serana said. She gave him a wan smile. "I'm sorry, I just didn't expect anyone to care how I felt about her. Thank you."

"Come on, let's get that portal open."

Serana nodded. "All right, here goes." She carefully bit her own wrist and sprinkled a few drops of blood onto the mixture of ingredients.

Immediately the whole room started to shake and was illuminated with a purplish light as the circle in the center started to spin. All of a sudden, intense rays of light shot through the center. Aeros and Serana both clutched at the railing for support.

"By the blood of my ancestors…" Serana breathed.

"By the Nine…" Aeros echoed. This went far beyond any kind of magic he had seen, and he couldn't help but be amazed.

As the circle spun faster and faster, parts of the stone started to float in the air and began forming steps from the landing down to the portal. Aeros could actually see raw magicka drifting through the air.

"She actually did it...created a portal to the Soul Cairn. Incredible!"

"Let's go." Aeros said, straightening. He started walking down the steps. As he neared the center though, he was overcome by an odd burning sensation, and could feel something being drained out of him. He quickly retreated back up the steps, away from the portal entrance.

"Are you alright?" Serana asked in concern. "That looked painful."

"It was." Aeros said truthfully, rubbing his arm. He cast a low level healing spell to help get get rid of the effects. "What happened?" he asked.

Serana looked sheepish. "Now that I think about it...I should have expected that. Sorry. It's kind of hard to describe. The Soul Cairn is...well, hungry, for lack of a better word. It's trying to take your life essence as payment."

"Great, so there's no way in, then." Aeros muttered.

"That's not entirely true. There might be a way, but I don't think you're going to like it." She hesitated slightly before continuing. "Vampires aren't counted among the living. I could probably go through there without a problem."

"Are you saying I need to become a vampire?" Aeros was unable to keep the dismay out of his voice.

"Not your first choice, I'd guess." Serana said. Aeros thought she sounded pained.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like that. But there has to be another way."

"Maybe. We could just "pay the toll" another way. It wants a soul, so we give it a soul. Yours."

"Aren't we trying to _not _kill me? In my experience, losing your soul pretty much results in death."

"My mother taught me a trick or two." Serana reassured him. "I could partially soul trap you, and offer the gem to the Ideal Masters. It might be enough to satisfy them. It would make you a bit weaker when we travel through the Soul Cairn, but we might be able to fix that once we're inside. Maybe."

"Those are my only two options?" Aeros asked. Neither was what he would call appealing.

"I'm sorry." Serana said. "I wish I knew a better way, something that would be easier for you. Just know that...whatever path you choose, I won't think any less of you. Sometimes things just have to be done." She looked down. "I know that better than anybody."

Aeros knew there was only one choice, for him at least. "Alright, soul trap me. We can't afford to waste time looking for another way.

"Are you sure?" Serana asked him. "I'm willing to do it, but you need to think this through. You'll remain mortal, but you'll find yourself weakened inside the Soul Cairn."

"I'm sure." Aeros said without hesitation. "We need to find that scroll."

"I know this is difficult for you. I hope you trust me. I'd never do anything to hurt you."

"I know you wouldn't. And I trust you completely." Aeros told her, being completely honest.

"Thank you." Serana said, feeling a strange warmth in her chest. "Let's not waste any more time then. I promise to make this as painless as possible. Hold still." She carefully raised her hands, and cast the spell. Aeros could feel part of his soul being sucked out, and himself weakening slightly.

"Are you alright?" Serana said, studying his face intently. "You're not too weak?"

"Nah, I'm good. A little weaker, but nothing I can't handle."

"Alright, let's go then. My mother must be waiting on the other side of that thing."

Aeros nodded, and together the two of them descended the steps and entered the portal. The room faded away and Aeros could feel something shift. The two of them stepped out into a world that couldn't be more different from the one they left behind.

"Is this...the Soul Cairn?"

* * *

Author's Notes: So some of you have pointed out that it seems like I'm just re-telling the story, since I'm using the same dialogue. I am aware of this, it's just that I actually enjoyed the dialogue from Dawnguard and didn't feel right completely changing it. I promise you that that's only for this arc, and there will be a lot less of it in following arcs.

Characters:

Jordis the Sword-Maiden: Housecarl of Solitude. Essentially Lydia with blonde hair.

Traveler: Not really a specific character, the Traveler is a vampire randomly encountered throughout Skyrim. He has a really annoying habit of showing up in towns with a group of vampire toadies and killing valuable NPC's, like smiths and shopkeepers.

Dragon Language:

Zun = Weapon (First word of the Disarm shout)

Fus Ro Dah = Force Balance Push (Unrelenting Force shout)

Fo Krah Diin = Frost Cold Freeze (Frost Breath shout)


	7. Road to the Dawn 7

Road to the Dawn 7

"Is this...the Soul Cairn?" Aeros said in disbelief. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting a place filled with the trapped souls of the dead to look like, but this was definitely not it. The place was dead, in all senses of the word. The few trees he could see were dead and withered, and the ground itself looked absolutely barren. Off in the distance he could see several large towers with some kind of purple energy emanating from the top, beams of magicka shooting straight into the sky. All in all, not somewhere he would want to visit normally.

"Look at the sky." Serana whispered. "What kind of a place is this?"

Aeros glanced up and nearly did a double take. He had been so focused on the landscape, he had not noticed what was perhaps the most disconcerting feature of the Soul Cairn. The sky was filled with dark, foreboding storm clouds as far as the eye could see. All except for the center. In the center of the sky lay a giant, black void. It seemed to draw in the space around it, pulling it into nothingness.

Feeling queasy, he looked away from that hole in the sky. Looking out over the desolate landscape again, he asked Serana "Do you know anything about this place?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Mostly just what my mother told me, although I've also studied a little bit on my own, but like I said, there's not much. What I have managed to learn is about the Soul Cairn's relationship with soul gems. I mentioned it before, but my mother had a theory that when something is trapped in a soul gem, and then the energy is used for an enchantment, the remnants are sent here."

"Any soul gem?" Aeros asked. Just how many souls were trapped here?

"Well, I think it's specifically the black ones. I don't know if the Soul Cairn takes just any leftovers."

"So only the souls of people." Aeros summed up. "Then does anything live here?"

Serana raised an eyebrow at him. "Look at this place." she said, motioning to the bleak place laid out before them. "Do you think anything would want to live here? The only things that can survive here are the Ideal Masters, the undead, and the souls themselves. Well, if you want to call that 'living.'"

"You keep mentioning these Ideal Masters. Do you think we'll run into them?"

Serana shook her head again. "I don't think anyone's ever met the Ideal Masters. I'm now even sure anyone even knows what they look like. They could be underground, flying above us...They might be the ground. I have no idea."

"Then why are they collecting these souls?"

She actually laughed a little at that. "There's a lot of theories. Some say they feed on them like I feed on blood. Others think they use them as payment to some sort of higher power...almost like a currency. A very strange form of currency. Whatever they do here, they've been harvesting for millennia. No telling how many souls are trapped here."

"Then why would a necromancer want to deal with them? It sounds like most of them wind up tricked by these Ideal Masters and end up trapped themselves."

"Look around you. There are some extremely powerful undead here. Even a necromancer as seasoned as my mother would be willing to spend years trying to gain access to them."

"Summon them you mean?" This was sounding more like conjuration than necromancy to him.

"Exactly. It's a lost art. Most necromancers just raise up whatever's nearby. A simple trick, really. Child's play. But bringing something from the Soul Cairn gives you something much more powerful."

"How do the necromancers communicate with them?"

"Well, that's usually the trick. It's possible to do it through a simple portal. But to finalize the deal, you have to travel here yourself...and most of them never come back."

After hearing that, Aeros was presented with a very uncomfortable possibility. "Are you sure Valerica has the Elder Scroll?" he asked. If most necromancers wound up trapped here and turned into souls...

"No," Serana sighed, "but there's no way she would have left it in Tamriel. She wanted to get it as far away from my father as possible. I can't imagine a better place."

"And if she doesn't?" he had to ask.

"Then we find out where she hid it." Serana said simply. "If she's still alive...well, as alive as she was before. Or is now. Or...you know what I mean."

Aeros chuckled a bit at her floundering for words. "Why not just hide it in the Soul Cairn and then return?"

"Probably to avoid whatever my father would do to her if he could get his hands on her. Or maybe her plan was to come back, but she was stuck here. We won't know until we find her."

Aeros nodded, and glanced around again. "Let's move then. I feel like we're being watched, and I'd rather get out of here as soon as possible."

The two of them descended the floating steps and began walking down a broad road. Not far off, they could see some sort of wall splitting the Soul Cairn in half. As they drew closer to the wall, they passed various unfortunate souls. A few seemed to notice them, but most just stared vacantly into space, all hope gone.

It wasn't long until they encountered some of the undead Serana had spoken of. They had just passed through the wall separating the Soul Cairn when all of a sudden hands tore through the ground and skeletons climbed out. Oddly enough, these skeletons' bones were pitch black and there seemed to be some kind of darkness hanging about them. Within a couple seconds, they were surrounded.

"Are you sure you don't want to sit this one out?" Serana asked in concern. "If you're feeling weak right now, it's fine. I'll cover us."

Aeros laughed. "Now what kind of a man would I be if I made you do all the work while I just lazed about? Don't worry about me. It'll take more than losing a portion of my soul to put me down."

Serana couldn't help but smile at his attitude. "You're always so stubborn aren't you?" she laughed. Aeros just grinned in reply. The two of them charged headlong at the skeletons.

Even with him weakened, the denizens of the Soul Cairn weren't a match for Aeros and Serana and they were soon on their way again.

Eventually a ruined fortress appeared, flanked on either side by two of those mysterious towers emanating magicka. Drawing closer, they could see some sort of barrier that prevented them from entering the fortress. It was as they climbed the steps to take a closer look at the barrier though, that Serana spotted something on the other side. Or rather, someone.

"Mother?" she called out. The woman turned to face them and Serana ran forward upon seeing her face. "Mother!"

"Maker...it can't be." Valerica said in disbelief. "Serana?!"

"Is it really you? I can't believe it!" she said in excitement. "How do we get inside? We have to talk."

Her mother ignored her questions and instead asked her own. "Serana? What are you doing here? Where's your father?" Her voice sharpened at the mention of Harkon.

"He doesn't know we're here." Serana reassured her. "I don't have time to explain."

Valerica didn't seem to hear her. "I must have failed." she muttered to herself. "Harkon's found a way to decipher the prophecy, hasn't he?"

"No, you've got it all wrong." Serana tried to explain. "We're here to stop him...to make everything right."

For the first time, Valerica seemed to notice Aeros, standing slightly behind Serana. "Wait a moment, you've brought a stranger here? Have you lost your mind?" she snapped.

"No, you don't…" Serana tried to explain but Valerica wasn't listening anymore. She turned her full attention towards Aeros.

"You, come forward." she commanded imperiously. "I would speak with you."

Aeros approached slowly, coming to a stop next to Serana. Valerica looked him up and down, studying him intently. She sniffed in disdain when she saw the crossbow poking out from behind his back. "So how has it come to pass that a vampire hunter is in the company of my daughter?" Her voice made it clear what she thought of that idea. Before Aeros could answer, she continued. "It pains me to think that you'd travel with Serana under the guise of her protector in an effort to hunt me down."

"It's not a ruse!" Aeros protested. "I actually want to keep her safe."

"Coming from one who murders vampires for a trade, I find it hard to believe your intentions are noble." Valerica said in contempt, not believing him one bit. "Serana has sacrificed everything to prevent Harkon from completing the prophecy. I would have expected her to explain that to you."

"You think she hasn't explained that to me?" Aeros growled. "She's told me all about Harkon's mad plan, and how you and she tried to stop him. She also told me all about how you locked her away in a tomb for gods know how many years just to keep the Elder Scroll safe!"

"You think I'd have the audacity to place my own daughter in that tomb for protection of her Elder Scroll alone?" Valerica positively hissed. "The scrolls are merely a means to an end. The key to the Tyranny of the Sun is Serana herself."

"What do you mean?" Aeros asked, taken aback.

"When I fled Castle Volkihar, I fled with two Elder Scrolls." she explained. "The scroll I presume you found with Serana speaks of Auriel and his arcane weapon, Auriel's Bow. The second scroll declares that "The Blood of Coldharbour's Daughter will blind the eye of the Dragon."

"How does Serana fit in?" Aeros asked, not following.

"Like myself, Serana was a human once. We were devout followers of Lord Molag Bal. Tradition dictates the females be offered to Molag Bal on his summoning day. Few survive the ordeal. Those that do emerge as a pure-blooded vampire. We call such confluences the 'Daughters of Coldharbour.'"

"The Tyranny of the Sun requires Serana's blood?" Aeros asked in disbelief. A feat like that, if it required the blood of a Daughter of Coldharbour, then… His mind reached a chilling conclusion.

"Now you're beginning to see why I wanted to protect Serana and why I kept the other Elder Scroll as far from her as possible." Valerica said.

"Are you saying Harkon means to kill her?" Aeros asked, feeling a chill run down his spine. "His own daughter?"

"If Harkon obtained Auriel's Bow and Serana's blood was used to taint the weapon, the Tyranny of the Sun would be complete. In his eyes, she'd be dying for the good of all vampires."

Aeros felt himself growing angry at the idea of anyone trying to hurt Serana, especially her own father. "I would never allow that to happen." he said vehemently.

"And how exactly do you plan on stopping him?" Valerica asked.

"I'll do whatever's needed." he told her bluntly. "If that means killing Harkon myself, so be it."

She snorted. "If you believe that, then you're an even bigger fool than I originally suspected. Don't you think I already weighed that option before I enacted my plans? Countless have tried to before and failed."

"And what's Serana's option in this?"

"You care nothing for Serana or our plight." she said harshly. "I don't know how you managed to enter the Soul Cairn, if you became one of us or not, but you're still a vampire hunter at heart. You're here because we're abominations in your mind. Evil creatures that need to be destroyed."

"Serana believes in me, why won't you?" he snapped. No matter what he said, she seemed to have already written him off as some kind of heartless brute intent only on killing vampires.

"Serana?" Valerica said, turning to face her daughter again. "This stranger aligns himself with those that would hunt you down and slay you like an animal, yet I should entrust you to him?"

Now Serana seemed to be angry. "This 'stranger' has done more for me in the brief time I've known him than you've done in centuries!" she snarled.

"How dare you!" Valerica said indignantly, furious. "I gave up everything I care about to protect you from that fanatic you call a father!"

"Yes, he's a fanatic...he's changed." Serana said sadly, her anger gone. "But he's still my father. Why can't you understand how that makes me feel?"

"Oh, Serana. If only you'd open your eyes. The moment your father discovers your role in the prophecy, that he needs your blood, you'll be in terrible danger."

Serana's anger flared up again at her mother's words. "So to protect me you decide to shut me away from everything I cared about? You never asked me if hiding me in that tomb was the best course of action, you just expected me to follow you blindly. Both of you were obsessed with your own paths. Your motivations might have been different, but in the end, I'm still just a pawn to you too." She said the last part bitterly, seeming to realize just how true that was.

"I want us to be a family again." she went on. "But I don't know if we can ever have that. Maybe we don't deserve that kind of happiness. Maybe it isn't for us. But we have to stop him. Before he goes too far. And to do that we need the Elder Scroll."

Valerica actually seemed taken aback. "I'm sorry, Serana." she said slowly. "I didn't know...I didn't see. I've allowed my hatred of your father to estrange us for too long. Forgive me. If you want the Elder Scroll, it's yours."

She looked at Aeros again. "Your intentions are still somewhat unclear to me. But for Serana's sake, I'll assist you in any way that I can."

Aeros nodded in thanks. "Do you have the Elder Scroll on you?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes. I've kept it safely secured here ever since I arrived. However, I've been imprisoned here by the Ideal Masters and am unable to leave." She motioned to the magical barrier separating them. "Fortunately, you're in a position to breach the barrier that surrounds these ruins."

"What do we need to do?" Aeros and Serana both asked at the same time.

"You need to locate the tallest of the rocky spires that surround these ruins. At their bases, the barrier's energy is being drawn from unfortunate souls that have been exiled here. Destroy the Keepers that are tending them, and it should bring the barrier down."

"Actually, that brings up something I've been wondering about." Aeros said, seizing the opportunity she had given him. "And I'm sure Serana would like to know as well. How did you end up trapped here?"

Valerica sighed. "That's a long story. You see, when I entered the Soul Cairn, I had intended to strike a bargain with the Ideal Masters, the custodians of this place."

"What was the bargain?"

"I requested refuge in the Soul Cairn, and in exchange, I would provide the Idea Masters the souls that they craved. If I had foreseen the value they placed on my own soul, I would never have come here."

"They tricked you." Aeros guessed.

She nodded. "The Ideal Masters unleashed their Keepers and sent them to destroy me. Fortunately, I was able to hold them at bay and retreat into these ruins."

"But you became trapped."

"Unfortunately, yes. Since the Keepers weren't able to claim my soul, they had their minions construct a barrier I would never be able to breach."

"You've been imprisoned here for all this time?" he asked incredulously. He knew she was immortal, but to be trapped in a place like this for all that time...

"Time has very little meaning to me." Valerica said with a smirk, as if she knew what he had been thinking. "Consequently, it has little meaning to the Ideal Masters as well. I suppose you could call this the ultimate waiting game, each watching the other to see which will give in".

"Well, it looks like that waiting game is finally over." Serana said. "We'll be back once all the Keepers are taken care of."

As they turned to leave, Valerica spoke up again. "One more word of warning." she said. "There's a dragon that calls itself Durnehviir roaming the Cairn. Be wary of him. The Ideal Masters have charged him with overseeing the Keepers, and he will undoubtedly intervene if he perceives you as a threat."

"Thanks for the headsup." Aeros told her. A dragon? Here? This just kept getting better and better.

"Oh, and Aeros?"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning back around.

"Keep my daughter safe."

He nodded. "Don't worry. I will."

As soon as they were out of sight of the barrier, Serana leaned against Aeros as all of her energy seemed to sap out of her. Aeros wrapped an arm around her as support, and helped her sit down.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah." Serana sighed. "Just a bit drained is all."

"From talking with your mother? You seemed to hold your own pretty well."

"Thanks. But talking to my mother...I feel somehow relieved. All those things have been building for a while. You have no idea how long I've wanted to say that to her."

"Why did you ever agree to her plan then, if that was how you felt?"

"Look, I loved my father, but when he found that prophecy, it became his life. Everything else, even me and my mother...we just became clutter. I was close with my mother, but she just kept feeding me her opinions of him, and eventually I started believing them."

"Yeah, your mother didn't sound too too fond of your father."

She nodded. "The moment we gave ourselves to Molag Bal, things got really icy between them. They were both drunk on power, and pulling in different directions. Then he found that prophecy, and...that was it." She trailed off dejectedly.

"And you were caught in the middle." Aeros guessed.

She nodded. "I was. Honestly, it took me up until now to figure out that my mother was just as bad as he was. He was obsessed with power, she was obsessed with seeing him fail. It was just so...toxic. Maybe I could have seen this coming. We could all be better off now."

"You shouldn't blame yourself." Aeros told her. "There was nothing you could have done."

Serana rounded on him. "You don't know what it's like, coming from a family like that." she told him angrily. "Everything eventually just tumbles down to you."

"You're right," Aeros said simply, "I don't know what it's like growing up like that. But I do know what it's like to find yourself in a situation where there was absolutely nothing you could do, and yet you can't help but think 'Could I have stopped this? Was there something I could have done differently?'" His voice was filled with suppressed pain. "And I know better than anyone that hating yourself won't change a damn thing."

"Don't blame yourself for something you couldn't stop, Serana." he said gently. "Instead, let's focus on what we can stop, and make sure Harkon doesn't complete his Tyranny of the Sun."

Serana was quiet for a while, thinking about what Aeros had just said. Finally, she nodded, and smiled up at Aeros. "You're right," she said. "Thank you."

She leaned against him then and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad you're here." she said. "I don't think I could be doing this alone." Aeros nodded in understanding, and after that, the two of them sat there for a while in a comfortable silence, content to just relax a little bit and just enjoy each other's company.

Finally though, Aeros stood. "Come on," he said, offering Serana a hand up. "We should get going. We need to find those Keepers."

The two of them set off for the nearest of the tall spires that Valerica had pointed out. The area around the base of the spire was filled with various boneman and other undead, but they were quickly dispatched. As the last wrathman fell to the ground, Aeros turned to Serana questioningly. "Do you think one of those was the Keeper?" he started to ask, but was interrupted by a resounding thud, and the sound of heavy footfalls.

They both turned and saw a giant figure approaching them wearing a full set of dragonbone armor and wielding a dragonbone shield and mace.

"No Aeros, I think _that's _the Keeper." Serana said with all her usual sense of bad humor.

Aeros shot her an exasperated look, but still grinned in spite of himself. Looking back at the new approaching foe, his grin only grew. "Finally," he said, "a real challenge." Without any more thought, he charged the Keeper, both swords whirling.

Aeros and the Keeper fought for several minutes, each attacking viciously in order to find some sort of weakness in the other. But in the end, Aeros settled things with a double thrust through a gap in the Keeper's armor. The thing swayed, and then fell with a crash. It did not move, and after a few seconds, the body faded and disappeared entirely, leaving behind only the dragonbone mace.

"Nice job!" Serana said from behind him. Aeros turned to face her as he sheathed his swords.

"You could have helped." he complained jokingly.

"But you looked like you were having so much fun with your new friend." Serana replied, smirking. "It's a shame he had to leave all of a sudden."

Aeros shook his head at their conversation, chuckling. "Well, at least that's one down. Two more to go." He glanced slyly over at Serana. "And I'm sure that I won't have to deal with them myself this time." he said with a smirk.

"Only if you stop pouting like a little kid without his sweet roll." Serana said sweetly. She burst out into a fit of the giggles as Aeros stumbled and sputtered indignantly.

The two of them set off for another of the spires, determined to end this as quickly as possible. Together they managed to finish off the remaining two Keepers, although the bow-wielding one gave them some trouble, as they had to avoid some of the potentially deadly shots. Finally though, all three Keepers had been defeated.

Aeros sheathed his swords, wincing slightly. He might have avoided any serious injuries in their fights, but he would no doubt have some impressive bruises tomorrow. Those Keepers had hit hard!

"Come on," Serana said. "The barrier should be gone now. Let's head back."

"Alright," Aeros said in agreement. He didn't move though, and instead seemed to be searching the sky.

"What is it?" Serana asked, curious.

"I'm not quite sure." he admitted. "It's just...your mother warned us about the dragon Durnehviir, and how he would come after us if we attacked the Keepers. But so far, I haven't seen or even heard any sign of him."

"And you don't like that." Serana guessed, understanding now.

He nodded. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. It just leaves me with a bad feeling…"

He shook his head and flashed Serana a grin. "Never mind that. Let's go and get that Elder Scroll."

Valerica waited for them where they had last talked, standing in front of the fortress's doors. "You managed to destroy all three Keepers?" she said as they approached. "Very impressive. I see I have underestimated you, mortal."

"Are you able to give us the scroll now?" Aeros asked somewhat impatiently. The barrier was gone for now, but he didn't want to wait and see how long it would take the Ideal Masters to put it back.

"Yes. Please, follow me. And keep watch for Durnehviir. With the barrier down, he is almost certain to investigate." She led the two of them through the giant doors and into the boneyard beyond. They walked through the giant courtyard, ignoring the piles of bones all around them.

Serana paused suddenly. "Wait...I hear something." she said, right before the sound of wingbeats filled the air, followed by the sound of a dragon's roar.

"It's Durnehviir...he's here!" Valerica cried. "Defend yourselves!"

The undead dragon alighted on a tower at the opposite end of the courtyard, but before Aeros or Serana were even able to think of firing at him with magic or crossbow, the ground around them erupted.

"Gods damnit." Aeros grumbled, his swords in hand and ready to be used. "More of these guys?"

All around them, bonemen, mistmen, and wrathmen were climbing out of the ground. They hadn't been much of an issue before for Aeros and Serana, but there was a lot more here than what they had faced before. Also, though he didn't let Serana know it, the loss of part of his soul was finally taking its toll on Aeros.

Regardless, the two of them charged forward, and were soon carving a path through the crowd of undead. As the last skeleton died, Durnehviir took to the skies again.

Oh no you don't!" Aeros growled. Bracing himself, he took a deep breath.

"JOOR ZAH FRUL!" he shouted at the airborne dragon. Durnehviir shuddered at the unexpected Shout and had no choice but to land. He landed in the middle of the boneyard, and immediately tried to bite Aeros in two.

Aeros dodged out of the way and counter-attacked with all of his strength. Still, weakened as he was, he might have gotten seriously hurt if it wasn't for Serana wracking the undead dragons with blasts of lightning and a constant stream of ice spikes.

At last Aeros delivered a killing blow with his swords, stabbing up at Durnehviir's exposed neck. The swords found their mark easily, and Durnehviir collapsed to the ground.

Aeros put away his blades and straightened. The undead dragon had definitely been a lot tougher than most of Skyrim's dragons. He leaned against an outcropping of stone and waited to absorb the dragon's soul.

He jerked in surprise then, when Durnehviir's corpse was suddenly wrapped in violet flames that consumed his entire body before it faded away entirely.

"Well that's a new one." he said in bemusement.

Valerica approached then, shaking her head in wonder. "Forgive my astonishment, but I never thought I'd witness the death of that dragon."

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Volumes written n Durnehviir allege that he cannot be slain by normal means. " she explained. "Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"The soul of a dragon is as resilient as its owner's scaly hide. It's possible your killing blow has merely displaced Durnehviir's physical form, while he reconstitutes himself."

"So we still have to deal with an angry undead dragon? Great. How long will it take for him to reconstitute himself?"

Valerica shrugged. "Minutes? Hours? Years? I can't even begin to guess. I suggest we don't stick around to find out. Now, let's get you the Elder Scroll so you can be on your way."

Aeros and Serana followed Valerica as she led to a small alcove set in one of the walls. Inside was a variety of alchemical ingredients and equipment. In the very back of the alcove though, was a long, intricate case.

"Now, let me get the scroll's case open." Valerica said as she began unlocking the various locks on the case. A few moments later, the last lock fell open and Valerica slowly opened this case. Very carefully, she pulled out the Elder Scroll and handed it to Aeros.

"Now that you've retrieved the Elder Scroll, you should be on your way." Valerica told them. "If there's anything I can do before you depart, you must let me know."

"You're staying here?" Serana asked in surprise.

Valerica shook her head. "I have no choice. As I told you before, I'm a Daughter of Coldharbour. If I return to Tamriel, that increases Harkon's likelihood of bringing the Tyranny of the Sun to fruition."

"We'll try and come back for you, but we might never return." Aeros said warningly.

"I appreciate your concern for me, but Serana is all that I care about. You must keep her safe at all costs. Remember that Harkon is not to be trusted No matter what he promises, he'll deceive you in order to get what he wants. And promise me you'll keep my daughter safe. She's the only thing of value I have left. Besides, after what I've put Serana through, I would understand if she never wanted to see me again."

Aeros nodded in understanding and turned to leave. He stopped though and turned back around as he suddenly remembered something.

"Something else?" Valerica asked him.

"Yeah," Aeros said slowly. "Can you help me get my soul back?"

"So my daughter applied some of the lessons I taught her about necromancy, did she?" Valerica asked knowingly, quirking an eyebrow at him. "Don't worry, I think I can help you." For some reason, she sounded amused by the whole situation.

"Good, I can use all the help I can get."

Valerica just smiled in amusement. "Your soul essence was trapped inside a gem." she explained. "When you and Serana entered the Soul Cairn, it was "given" to the Ideal Masters as payment. You simply need to retrieve the gem. The moment you touch it, your soul essence will be restored."

"Any idea where it could be?" Aeros asked. He hoped they wouldn't have to travel all over the Soul Cairn again.

"There's an offering altar not terribly far from here. I'm willing to bet that the gem you're looking for is there."

Aeros nodded in thanks. "We'll be going then. Thanks for all your help."

"Just keep my daughter safe." Valerica said before turning away from them to lean over her alchemy table.

Aeros walked over to where Serana was waiting.

"Come on, let's go home." Serana said when he stopped next to her. "I'm glad we found the scroll, but I...I wish she could come with us."

"We'll come back for her." Aeros promised. Serana smiled thankfully at him, but said nothing.

The two of them opened the doors leading out of the boneyard and stepped out into the Soul Cairn again. And found an undead dragon waiting for them.

* * *

Author's Notes: So I obviously fell behind on making sure this next chapter got out on time. I got distracted by a variety of things, especially school starting up for me again, so sorry for the wait! But hey, another hint to Aeros's past when he's comforting Serana! I'm thinking that could make for an interesting arc...

Characters:

Valerica: Serana's mother, and the estranged wife of Harkon. She's kind of a bitch when you first meet her and doesn't really like your character. She gets a little better as you free her and retrieve the Elder Scroll, but I wouldn't trust her too much.

Durnehviir: The undead dragon guarding the Soul Cairn. After you defeat him, he teaches you how to summon him in Tamriel.

Dragon Language:

Joor Zah Frul = Mortal Finite Temporary (Dragonrend Shout)


	8. Road to the Dawn 8

Road to the Dawn 8

Aeros and Serana both grabbed for their weapons as the undead dragon materialized in front of them. But before they could do anything, Durnehviir spoke.

"Stay your weapons." he said in a deep rumble. "I would speak with you, Qahnaarin."

Aeros slowly removed his hands from his swords and lowered them. He motioned for Serana to do the same, and she slid her dagger back into its sheath. Neither of them fully relaxed though. "I thought you were dead." he replied, straightening.

Durnehviir shook his massive head. "Cursed, not dead. Doomed to exist in this form for eternity. Trapped between laas and dinok, between life and death."

"Why are we speaking exactly?" Aeros had to ask "You did just try to kill me."

"I believe in civility amongst seasoned warriors, and I find your ear worthy of my words." the dragon explained. "My claws have rended the flesh of innumerable foes, but I have never once been felled on the field of battle. I therefore honor-name you "Qahnaarin," or Vanquisher in your tongue."

"I found you equally worthy." Aeros replied truthfully. It had been a while since he had a battle with a dragon like that.

Durnehviir dipped his head in acknowledgement of the compliment. "Your words do me great honor. My desire to speak with you was born from the result of our battle, Qahnaarin. I merely wish to respectfully ask a favor of you."

"What kind of a favor?" Aeros asked curiously. What could an undead dragon possibly want from him?

"For countless years I've roamed the Soul Cairn, in unintended service to the Ideal Masters. Before this, I roamed the skies above Tamriel. I desire to return there."

"What's stopping you?"

"I fear that my time here has taken its toll upon me." Durnehviir said sorrowfully. "I share a bond with this dreaded place. If I ventured far from the Soul Cairn, my strength would begin to wane until I was no more."

"How could I help?" Aeros asked. He believed Durnehviir now that he only wanted to talk, and he couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. To be stuck in the Soul Cairn for all eternity...he would go as mad as Sheogorath if he had to suffer that fate. Well, maybe not that crazy...

"I will place my name with you and grant you the right to call my name from Tamriel." Durnehviir told him. "Do me this simple honor, and I will fight at your side as your Grah-Zeymahzin, your Ally, and I will teach you my Thu'um."

"Just call your name in Tamriel?" Aeros asked in surprise. "That's it?"

"Trivial in your mind, perhaps. For me, it would mean a great deal. I don't require an answer, Qahnaarin. Simply speak my name to the heavens when you feel the time is right." Aeros felt the surge of knowledge and power he normally felt approaching a word wall. Once the feeling faded, he nodded to the undead dragon.

"Why do you call me Qahnaarin?" he had to ask. He had never heard of the title before, and was curious.

"In my language, the Qahnaarin is the Vanquisher, the one who has bested a fellow dovah in battle."

"Fellow dovah? I'm not a dragon."

Durnehviir chuckled, the sound like distant thunder. "Even in the Soul Cairn, the defeat of the World Eater has reached my ears, Dovahkiin. You may not be dovah, but the defeat of Alduin earns you the right of title." Aeros was surprised that Durnehviir knew about Alduin's defeat. But then a thought occurred to him.

"How did you end up in the Soul Cairn?" he asked. Durnehviir had said he used to roam the skies of Tamriel, so how did he wind up in the Soul Cairn of all places?

"There was a time when I called Tamriel my home, but those days have long since passed. The dovah roamed the skies, vying for their small slices of territory that resulted in immense and ultimately fatal battles."

"And you were a part of that, I'm guessing."

The dragon nodded. "I was. But unlike some of my brethren, I sought solutions outside of the norm in order to maintain my superiority. I began to call what the dovah call "Alok-Dilon," the ancient forbidden art that you call necromancy."

Aeros glanced over at Serana and saw she was as surprised as him. Neither of them would have expected a dragon of all things to practice necromancy. "So you sought the Soul Cairn for answers." Aeros guessed.

"The Ideal Masters assured me that my powers would be unmatched, that I could raise legions of the undead. In return, I was to serve them as a Keeper until the death of the one who calls herself Valerica."

"They didn't tell you she was immortal."

Durnehviir growled in anger. "I discovered too late that the Ideal Masters favor deception over honor and had no intention of releasing me from my binding. They had control of my mind, but fortunately, they couldn't possess my soul."

"Is that why you're free now?" Aeros asked.

"Free?" Durnehviir shook his head sadly. "No. I have been here too long, Qahnaarin. The Soul Cairn has become part of what I am. I can never fully call Tamriel my home again, or I would surely perish. I only hope that you will allow me the precious moments of time there through your call."

Aeros nodded, having decided to trust the dragon. "I promise to summon you back in Tamriel." he swore. He gave a lopsided grin. "We'll just have to make sure you don't scare anyone passing by when I do."

The great dragon dipped his head. "Thank you, Qahnaarin. I look forward to when I hear your call. Until then, farewell." With a huge gust of wind, Durnehviir lifted off of the stone outcropping he had been resting on and flew around the fortress, out of their sight.

Aeros and Serana both visibly relaxed as all the tension in their bodies disappeared. Aeros started chuckling, and Serana looked at him curiously.

"Sorry, it's just...I'd forgotten how civil some dragons can be. I'm so used to them trying to tear me to shreds or burn me to a crisp, it was surprising to meet one that actually wanted to talk."

Serana laughed. "Well, I'm sure the fact that you can absorb a dragon's soul tends to leave them a little disinclined to invite you over for a cup of tea." she said with a grin.

Aeros groaned good-naturedly. "It looks like I'll never get too full of myself with you around, Serana." he complained jokingly.

"Of course." Serana said with mock-severity. "That's my job. That, and keeping you out of trouble."

"Hey!" he complained. "I handled myself just fine before I met you!"

"And Divines know how you managed to survive like that." Serana replied with a smirk. "It sounds like your other companions had to focus more on keeping your ass out of the fire than fighting enemies."

Aeros muttered to himself. All Serana could hear was something about Nord women and "I'm not a child." She giggled and smiled sweetly at him.

Aeros shook his head ruefully, deciding to give up on understanding women, and instead focus on something else. "As much as I love standing here and talking, we should probably get going before something else shows up."

"Alright." Serana said in agreement. "So our first stop is to find this altar my mother mentioned, and get your soul back. After that, we can finally leave this place."

It didn't take them long to find the altar that Valerica had mentioned. As soon as they approached the place, they were attacked by various undead, but the two of them didn't even slow and just carved a path of destruction through them. The last couple undead fled at their approach, overwhelmed by the sheer power of these two.

"So the altar's up there?" Aeros asked quizzically, looking at the roof of the building. He could see one of those giant crystals floating up there.

"I think so." Serana shrugged. I don't see anything down here that looks like it could hold your soul."

"So I'm guessing we need to use this." he said, nodding to the odd glowing well next to them. They had used one of these before when they had to reach the top of a tower to fight the Keeper there.

"Looks like it." Serana shrugged. "Be careful though. There might be more enemies up there, and the last time we used one, a Keeper almost took our heads off."

Aeros grinned, undeterred. "Don't worry, we'll be fine. We destroyed all the Keepers remember? Besides, the only thing I can tell that's up there is that weird floating crystal." Without waiting for her response, he stepped onto the glowing well and vanished in a swirl of purplish smoke.

Serana shook her head, but stepped onto the well to join Aeros at the top.

"So where's this altar?" Aeros asked, scanning the rooftop around them.

"I'm guessing that's it right there below the crystal." Serana said, pointing.

"Great!" he said excitedly. "Then let's grab my soul gem and get back home." He strode off right towards the chest and the floating crystal.

"Hey, Aeros, wait!" Serana called. "Didn't my mother mention something about those crystals being conduits for the Ideal Masters?"

Aeros didn't hear her though, as he had just found his soul gem and was holding it up triumphantly. He could feel the rest of his soul returning and his exhaustion being washed away. As he celebrated though, he felt a strange pull at the essence of his soul, like it was being drained by something. Feeling extremely weak all of a sudden, Aeros collapsed to the ground, falling facedown on the roof as he suddenly remembered Valerica's warning about the Ideal Masters and their hunger for souls.

Serana sighed when she saw Aeros collapse, and stomped towards him. Unaffected by the draining effect of the crystal, she grabbed Aeros by the large boneplate on the back of his armor, and with inhuman strength, she dragged Aeros away from the crystal.

Once they were far enough away, Aeros began to feel his strength coming back and sat up.

"Um, thanks for that." he said, grinning sheepishly at Serana, who was glaring down at him. "I probably would have been done for if you weren't with me."

Serana glared at him for another few moments, before deciding to let it go. "Seriously, how on earth did you manage to save the world without killing yourself?"

Aeros chuckled a bit. "Through sheer stubbornness, I guess, and because of all of my companions who I knew had my back. Well, that and a bit of dumb luck."

"More like all the luck in the world." Serana said, smirking down at him.

"Well yeah, that's probably true." he admitted. Deciding to steer the conversation away from his mishap, he stood and stretched.

"Alright," he said, "we've got what we came for, and I've got my soul back! Let's get out of here and go back to the Tamriel."

They walked back to the strange teleporting well, Aeros giving the giant floating crystal a wide berth this time.

They made it back to the portal unmolested. They climbed the steps leading back to Nirn slowly. As they reached the top, the world faded into white again, before returning to the form of Valerica's laboratory.

They stopped on the landing above the portal to take a short rest. As they sat there, Serana gave a small laugh. "Well, we finally have all three Elder Scrolls. Now all that's left is to have Dexion read them, and then we'll be able to stop my father."

Aeros nodded in agreement, but he felt a little anxious about the whole thing. "Serana…" he said uncertainly, not sure how to phrase this. He decided to just be straightforward. "Does it bother you that we're working against your father?"

Serana just let out a sigh. "I can't say it surprises me." she said sadly. "I kind of figured we were headed for this someday. I just didn't know when…"

"Will it be hard for you if we have to kill him?" he asked softly.

"If? I've been assuming thats where all of this has been going. I've been trying to make my peace with it." She shook her head and stood up. She held her hand out to Aeros. "Come on, we can talk about this another time."

Aeros grabbed her hand and she helped pull him up. Looking at her as she turned away, he couldn't help but admire her spirit. But no matter how much she might hide it, he knew she was hurting from all of this.

"Are you coming or not?" Serana asked from below, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm coming." he replied.

He joined her, and the two of them left the ruined tower, Elder Scroll in hand.

- Fort Dawnguard -

The sun had just begun to peek over the mountains when they arrived back at the fort. As they entered the main chamber, Dexion greeted them. "I trust your journey was successful?" he asked as he approached them. For whatever reason, he was wearing a strip of cloth around his head that covered his eyes.

"Yep." Aeros replied as he unslung the two scrolls from his back. "We've got the other two Elder Scrolls right here." But as he went to hand them to Dexion, the Moth Priest shook his head.

"I'm sorry, my friend," he said, "I can no longer be of use in this matter."

Aeros stopped. "Why? What happened?"

The man laughed ruefully. "It's my fault really. In my haste to read the first scroll, I neglected the careful preparation required. I thought I would be able to allay the after-effects, but I was wrong. Now I am paying for it."

Aeros looked quizzically at Dexion, not understanding. Serana however, quickly realized what he was talking about.

"That band of cloth around your eyes." she gasped. "Are you-"

"Blind? Yes, I'm afraid so."

"Is there anything that can be done to help you?" Serana asked.

Dexion shook his head again. "No, I'm afraid not. It is the inevitable fate we agree to when we read the Elder Scrolls. Normally, it doesn't occur until a Moth Priest's later years, but in my case I simply wasn't preparing myself properly. It'll just have to run it's course. And there's always the chance I may never recover."

"Then we're finished." Aeros groaned. "If we can't read the scrolls, then Harkon will find the bow and enact the Tyranny of the Sun. Damn it!"

"Not to worry," Dexion reassured them. "There is another way. The question is, how much are you willing to risk to find Auriel's Bow?"

"Well I do like living in a sunlit world. What do I need to do?"

"I can't guarantee you'd be free from harm." Dexion warned him. "Becoming blind may be the least of your worries."

"Don't worry about that. Just tell me."

The Moth Priest nodded, accepting Aeros's answer. "Scattered across Tamriel are secluded locations known only as Ancestor Glades. There is one in Skyrim, in the Pine Forest. Performing the ritual of the Ancestor Moth within the glade should provide the answers you seek."

"What's this 'ritual?'" Serana asked, curious.

"It involves carefully removing the bark of a Canticle Tree, which will in turn attract Ancestors Moths to you. Once enough of the moths are following, they'll provide you with the second sight needed to decipher the scrolls."

"Carefully gather the bark? How?"

"In keeping with tradition, you must use a specific tool within the glade, an implement known as a Draw Knife. Every Moth Priest is taught this ritual, but few get to ever perform it...you should consider yourself fortunate if it works for you."

"Do I need to read the scrolls in any particular order?" Aeros asked.

"I don't know. But from what I saw in the vision, the Elder Scroll which foreshadows the defiance of the gods with the blood of mortals is the key to the prophecy."

"So we just need to find this Ancestor Glade and read the scrolls in it." Aeros summed up. "Sounds simple enough." He paused though, as a thought occurred to him. "But what do moths have to do with an Elder Scroll?"

"Well, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, it's no mere coincidence we're named 'Moth Priests.' The voice of the Ancestor Moth has always been an integral part of reading the Elder Scrolls."

"Um, moths barely make a sound, let alone speak." Aeros said in confusion.

Dexion chuckled. "Oh, the moths don't literally read the scrolls...but they maintain a connection to ancient magic that allows the Moth Priests to decipher them. If you listen closely when you find the glade, you should be able to hear their song...a soft, harmonious trilling. It's through this ancestral chorus that the moths tap into a form of primal auger, and became a conduit for deciphering the scrolls."

"How does that help the Moth Priests?"

"By having the Ancestral Moths close to the Moth Priest, they can utilize the conduit and share the moths' augury. However, only the most resilient of priests can do it this way...it takes years of practice to interpret the harmony correctly."

"Then how do I even stand a chance? We don't exactly have years for me to try to learn how to talk with moths."

"You've come this far, and you've found several Elder Scrolls. Whether you believe it or not, the scrolls have a mind of their own. If they did not want you to find them, they would not have allowed it. Because of this, I strongly believe you are meant to hear the ancestral chorus. Only one way to find out."

"I guess you're right. So that just all the more reason to find out what the scrolls can tell us. Thanks Dexion." The Moth Priest inclined his head in goodbye, and left them.

Almost as soon as he left, Gunmar and Sorine approached the two of them. Aeros glanced at them. "Do you have a moment?" Sorine asked. "Gunmar and I have been talking, and well, we're slightly worried."

"What's up?" he asked.

"We both realized that if Isran's even allowed us in here, he must be really concerned. And if he's that concerned, the situation must be pretty bad. Make sense?"

"You're worried about what we're up against?" Aeros guessed.

"Yes. These vampires are a new threat, and a truly deadly one. You've been inside their castle. Can you honestly say we have nothing to worry about?"

Aeros nodded in agreement with Sorine's words. Even though he had been in Castle Volkihar for only a little bit, and hadn't seen much of the place besides the great hall, the number of vampires and death hounds he had seen was more enough to worry even him. "So what do you have in mind?" he asked.

"Gunmar and I both agree that we're going to need Florentius's help. We were hoping you could track him down."

"Who is Florentius?"

Gunmar, who had been quiet thus far, cleared his throat. "He's a priest of Arkay. Well, he was. It's a bit more complicated than that. He's a little eccentric, but he's trustworthy and we could definitely use his skills."

"So where can I find him?"

Sorine and Gunmar both glanced sheepishly at each other. "Well, that's the thing." Sorine said. "We don't know where he is. Haven't seen him in years. I think he had regular contact with the Vigilants, and I know Isran kept track of them…so maybe you could ask Isran if he knows anything? Just keep in mind that he...well, he might not like the idea."

Aeros laughed. "When does Isran ever like anything other than killing vampires? Don't worry, I'll find Florentius."

Sorine and Gunmar thanked him for his help before they both moved off to get back to various tasks. Serana and Aeros meanwhile, climbed the stairs to the second floor of the fort. They found Isran leaning against the railing, watching the other Dawnguard members working hard. If he heard them approaching, he gave no indication, and continued to look down below.

"I need to find someone named Florentius." Aeros said.

_That _got a reaction out of the man, and he turned towards them with a scowl. "Who said something, Sorine or Gunmar?" he asked irritably. "I thought they'd have learned their lesson by now. I don't trust that man, and I don't want him here."

Aeros sighed. Isran never made it easy. "Sorine thought we'd need his help. The vampires are growing any weaker, and we need all the help we can get."

"I suppose she's right." Isran admitted grudgingly. "I shouldn't let my personal feelings get in the way. You want to find him you said? Well, the last I heard of him, he was aiding the Vigilants of Stendarr at Ruunvald. He may still be there."

"Thanks Isran." Aeros said. Isran just grunted in reply. As he turned to leave though, Isran called out to him. If you do find that man, tell him if he can maintain some appearance of normalcy, I'll allow him to stay. Otherwise he's gone."

"I'll let him know." Aeros promised, walking away towards where Serana was waiting.

"So one more stop before we find the bow?" Serana asked.

"Um, well…" Aeros stammered, not sure how to respond.

Serana laughed. "Relax, Aeros. I know we need to find the bow, but I know just as well as you that the Dawnguard could use more help. Looks like we're off to Ruunvald!"

She led the way down the stairs. Aeros stared at her for a moment, bemused. Finally though, he just laughed and shook his head, before following her down the stairs.

- Ruunvald -

"Is this it?" Serana asked. They stood in front of a set of doors leading to the excavation site. There was a couple tents nearby, but it didn't look like anyone had used them for a couple days at least.

"It should be," Aeros replied, "at least according to what those people in Shor's Stone told us. But where is everybody? No one's been here for days."

"Maybe they're all inside?" Serana suggested. "It probably gets cold up here in the mountains."

"Maybe…" Aeros said, not convinced.

"Only one way to find out." Serana told him. They opened the doors and entered Ruunvald.

It took Aeros a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, especially after how bright it had been outside. When he could finally see again, he glanced over at Serana to make sure she was there. Her eyes glowed in the darkness as she returned the look.

The two of them made their way down the passage, further into the excavation site. After a while, they started to hear the sound of someone using a pickaxe. Rounding a corner, they found some Vigilants mining away. Aeros and Serana both straightened as they relaxed.

"Excuse me," Aeros said, approaching the Vigilants, "I'm looking for a man named Florentius. You haven't happened to see him ha-" It was a flicker of movement that he caught out of the corner of his eye, something that most people would have even noticed, but Aeros instinctively jumped back. A crossbow bolt flew right by him, right where his head used to be.

He turned angrily on the Vigilants, only to find a sword descending towards his head. Luckily, Serana saved him this time, and a timely ice spike crashed into the man's head.

"What are you idiots doing?" Aeros yelled at the Vigilants, who had all drawn their weapons and were slowly approaching Aeros and Serana.

"Aeros!" Serana said as she hit another Vigilant. "Look at their eyes! Something is controlling them!"

Serana was right, Aeros realized. The Vigilants had a fanatical look in their eyes, but there was also a magical haze around their head. He wished there was something he could do to break whatever spell was holding them, but knew he didn't have the luxury. He drew his swords and charged forward.

Aeros and Serana fought their way farther into the mine, battling possessed Vigilants the entire way. Finally they reached an area they could take a break. As they regained their breath, Aeros noticed a journal on a table nearby. Curious, and hoping to figure out what was causing all of the Vigilants to act like this, he started flipping through it.

"Anything helpful?" Serana asked.

"I don't know. It all seems relatively normal until recently. All of a sudden it's nothing but praises and prayers to someone or something called Minorne...I think this Minorne might be behind whatever's happened to the Vigilants."

"Then let's go and ask Minorne." Serana said with a smirk. "Maybe she'll even answer our questions _before _she attacks us."

Aeros chuckled at that. "Somehow, I doubt it."

The two of them continued further into the ruins and finally found themselves in a big chamber. At the opposite end was a raised altar, with some kind of cage off to one side. There was also a vampire and a Vigilant guarding it.

"I'm guessing the vampire is Minorne." Serana said. "Wanna go ahead and ask her if she's friendly?" Unfortunately, it seemed Aeros and Serana wouldn't get to ask Minorne any questions, because as soon as she noticed them, she and the Vigilant attacked.

"That's probably a no." Aeros replied, stepping forward towards the charging vampire.

"YOL TOOR SHUL!"

A wall of fire flew from Aeros's mouth towards Minorne. With a shriek, she tried to throw herself out of the way, but was too late. The flames wrapped around her and in less than a second she was nothing more than ash and bones.

Serana had also dispatched the Vigilant with ease and was walking back to join Aeros. "Why is it everywhere we go, people try to kill you?"

"Remind me to take you back to Whiterun or Solitude, where people actually like the Dragonborn." Aeros quipped. "Now, what do you say we go and let good old Florentius free?"

They found the keys to the cage and unlocked it. Inside, an Imperial stood up.

"I knew it!" he exclaimed. "I knew Arkay would save me. I asked for help, and he sent you! You are a very welcome addition to this dreary place, my friend."

"I'm Aeros, and this is Serana." he said, holding out his hand. "I'm guessing your Florentius?"

"Yes of course! I owe both you and Arkay a great deal, Aeros, Serana. I'm sure I'll manage to repay him later, but you… What can I do to thank you?"

"Umm…" Aeros said hesitantly. Why did this guy talk as if Arkay was an old friend? "You could meet me at Fort Dawnguard. Isran needs your help."

Florentius blinked. "Isran? My help?" Now he sounded irritated. "Is this...some kind of a joke? Did Arkay put you up to this? Isran's done nothing but mock me. He's never given me the respect I deserve."

"Please, we need your help." Serana asked as politely as she could. Aeros meanwhile was once again wondering why how Isran always managed to piss off every single person he met.

"Look, I've just gotten myself out of quite a mess here, in case you haven't noticed, and while I appreciate your help, I…" he trailed off, and seemed to be listening to something neither of them could hear. "What's that?" he asked, but it didn't seem to be directed at them.

"No, that's not what I…" Again he stopped and seemed to be listening to someone else. Aeros and Serana looked at each other. He wasn't actually talking to someone was he?

"Yes, but…" he sighed. "Are you sure? Really? Fine." Florentius turned his attention on them again, and seemed resigned. "Arkay says it's a good idea for me to go." he told them. "I don't agree, but he's not the sort of fellow you can just ignore. I'll see you at Fort Dawnguard."

Aeros tried to tell him how to get there, but Florentius just waved him off. "Don't worry," he assured them. "Arkay will show me the way."

And just like that, he left.

Aeros and Serana also decided to leave, and neither said anything for a while, still trying to figure out what had just happened. They were still like this when they reached the mine entrance.

"It looks like that's done!" Aeros said cheerfully, the first to break the silence. "With Florentius rescued, we can finally go and learn where to find Auriel's bow!" With that, he set off along the path.

Serana couldn't help but ask though. "Hey Aeros?"

"Yeah?" he asked in reply, still cheerfully walking along.

"That Florentius...you don't think he _actually _talks with Arkay do you?"

"I have no idea!"

They both burst out laughing, enjoying one of Skyrim's rare peaceful moments.

* * *

Author's Notes: Sorry again for the long wait. I actually would have had this posted earlier, but I recently had something come up that left me unable to work on this for a quite a while. But here it is finally, part eight of Road to the Dawn! This is actually the second to last chapter of the arc, with the last chapter being a version of Unseen Visions. This is mainly just because I feel like the last two quests of the DLC deserve their own arc, especially since I have some ideas for Kindred Judgment.

Characters:

Florentius Baenius: Insane or the best friend of a god? Nobody knows!

Minorne: Altmer vampire who takes control of all the Vigilants' minds in Ruunvald using the Staff of Ruunvald.

Dragon Language:

Yol Toor Shul = Fire Inferno Sun (Fire Breath Shout)


	9. Road to the Dawn 9

Road to the Dawn 9

Serana sat in the shade as Aeros refilled their waterskins from a stream. They had been traveling for over a day now, and were hopefully growing close to their goal.

"I hope we reach Ancestor Glade soon."

Aeros took a drink from the refilled waterskin before glancing at Serana. "We should be close, if Dexion gave us the right location." He tossed her one of the skins, and she drank from it gratefully.

"I just hope this 'ritual' that Dexion mentioned actually works. I have no idea what we're going to do if it doesn't."

"It'll work." Aeros said reassuringly. "But we're not going to find out just sitting here. Come on, we should get going again."

"If I remember right, weren't you the one who wanted to take a nap in that meadow back there?" Serana asked with a grin, but she climbed to her feet anyways.

But as she walked over to join Aeros, she suddenly felt light headed and stumbled. The only thing that stopped her from falling to the ground was Aeros's quick reflexes. He caught her as she tripped and helped her steady herself.

"Are you alright, Serana?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.

Serana gave him a small smile as she stood back up with his help.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. I just got a little lightheaded, that's all. Thanks for catching me though."

Aeros smiled slightly. "No problem." He was still concerned though. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Aeros, I'm fine. Now come on, we're wasting daylight."

Aeros watched as she climbed back on her horse and headed off in the direction where Dexion had said the glade was, and she did seem to be fine. Finally, he laughed at himself as he mounted his own horse, and ran after her.

"Hey Serana! Wait up!"

- Ancestor Glade -

"This must be the place." Serana said as they stood in front of the cave entrance.

"Looks like it." Aeros agreed. "It's right where Dexion said it would be. Let's see what's inside."

The two of them entered the cave, pausing to let their eyes adjust. When they did, it was almost a let down.

"Hmph...not very impressive is it?" Serana said in disappointment, and Aeros couldn't help but agree. They had both been expecting some kind of mysterious and magical place where the Elder Scrolls could be read. But what they found, was just a regular old cave with a bit of local flora growing inside.

Deciding to see if they could find anything at all to help with finding Auriel's Bow, they began picking their way across the ground.

"If this ends up being a wasted trip, your friend Dexion and I are going to have some words when we get back." Serana muttered under her breath. Aeros couldn't help but feel a bit concerned for Dexion's well-being now.

Luckily, they found a passage on one side of the cave that led further. Having no better options available, they decided to follow it. And once again stopped dead as they emerged, only this time in amazement.

"Wow." Serana whispered in wonder. "Look at this place. No one's been here in centuries. I doubt there's any other place like it in Skyrim. It's beautiful." Aeros nodded mutely.

Instead of emerging into another part of the cave, they had instead found themselves in a hidden glade, completely enclosed by rock, separated from the rest of Skyrim. All around them, trees and flowers flourished, and they could see a waterfall and several springs down below as well. Moths fluttered about through the air, and a single pillar of sunlight shone lazily down onto the center of the glade.

Aeros and Serana descended the stone steps down the slope towards the center, still wrapped up in awe at the beauty of the place. As they followed the path, they found themselves passing underneath several ancient stone archways before they found themselves standing in front of a great stone ring. Inside the ring floated an oddly shaped knife.

Glancing questioningly at Serana, Aeros reached out and removed the knife from the ring. As soon as he did, he could feel its weight settle into his hands. He considered the odd shape of the thing, trying to guess its purpose.

The thing had two carved wood handles, one at either end with the blade stretching between them. The blade itself seemed to curved down and towards him slightly.

"Well, we got the knife…" Serana said from behind him. "Now all we need to do is track down one of those Canticle Trees."

"And then what?" he asked her. "Because I honestly have no idea what to do with this thing."

Serana laughed. "Well, if I were a betting woman, I'd say it was a scraper of some sort. Mother had something similar back when she tended the courtyard garden s to scrape moss and fungus off of the trees. That one's far nicer though...almost ceremonial."

Deciding she knew better than he did, Aeros looked around for a Canticle Tree. Fortunately, there was one nearby, right next to Serana. Shrugging, Aeros began carefully scraping some of the bark off the tree.

"Hope the moths like that bark as much as Dexion said they would." Serana said as he stepped back with the bark in hand.

Aeros approached a nearby group of moths, hoping they didn't just fly away. Instead, as soon as he got close, they stopped and immediately begin circling around him. For whatever reason, everything around him seemed to slow down slightly.

Serana laughed at how quickly the moths swarmed around Aeros, and at the look on his face. "Look at them...they've definitely taken a liking to you." she said in amusement. Her voice sounded distorted slightly to Aeros, as if he was listening from the end of a long tunnel. "And unless I'm seeing things, you're starting to...glimmer. I think we need to gather more moths though. Something tells me we'll know when we can read the scrolls."

"You're probably right." Aeros said, and they began slowly walking around the glade, gathering moths as they went.

All of a sudden, as they picked up yet another group of moths, the pillar of light in the center of the glade seemed to pulse.

"Whoa!" Serana yelled in surprise. "I think that might have been what we were waiting for. Come on, let's head over there and see if we can read the scrolls."

They walked back over to the pillar, and Aeros went to stand in the middle of it. He drew out the Elder Scroll Valerica had given them. He went to open it, but hesitated slightly.

Serana noticed his hesitation and her features softened somewhat. "Nervous?" she asked in sympathy.

Aeros laughed. "Yeah...yeah, I guess I am. I read one of these once, so that I could learn the Shout that would help me defeat Alduin, but the only other person I've met besides Dexion who actually read one of the things went completely mad afterwards. Now I'm reading three…" he shook his head.

"Aeros, you'll be fine." Serana said reassuringly. "Remember what Dexion said? The scrolls have a mind of their own, and if they hadn't wanted you to find them, you never would have. That also means you must be meant to read them. Besides, these moths are supposed to help reduce the effects." Secretly, Serana hoped she was right.

Her words worked though. Aeros flashed her a grin. "You're right, like always. Well, let's see what these scrolls can tell us about Auriel's Bow." And without missing a beat, he opened the first scroll.

As soon as he did, the entire space around him seemed to shimmer and distort as lines and symbols of pure magic seemed to appear in front of him. As he opened the second scroll, the images changed, resolving themselves into what looked vaguely like a map. Opening the final scroll, Aeros watched in amazement as the map seemed to solidify, glowing symbols for Markarth and Solitude appearing. And in between them, set against the mountains, a third symbol appeared. He didn't recognize it, but instinctively knew it was where Auriel's Bow was hidden. The vision vanished in a great flash of white light, before everything returned to normal.

"Aeros? Aeros, are you okay?" he thought he could hear Serana say in the distance. As he blinked away the spots in his vision, he found Serana looking up at him in concern, worry etched on her face.

Seeing that Aeros had returned from wherever he had just gone, Serana smiled in relief. "Thank the gods, I almost thought I lost you there...you went as white as the snow."

He waved her off, straightening and relaxing his grip on the stone ring. When had he grabbed that? "Don't worry, I'm fine," he said with an odd sense of deja vu.

"I never trusted those damned scrolls." Serana said vehemently, surprising Aeros with her complete one-eighty from before. "Who knows what those things could have done to you! Just look at Dexion." She stopped and turned away, forcing herself to calm down. Aeros meanwhile, was surprised at how concerned she had been for him. For some reason, he felt warm at the thought.

"What about Auriel's Bow?" Serana asked, interrupting his thoughts. "Do you know where we can find it?"

Aeros nodded. "It's in a place called Darkfall Cave."

"Then it's almost over. We can finally put an end to this ridiculous prophecy. Where is this 'Darkfall Cave?'"

"On the western edge of Skyrim, between Markarth and Solitude. The scrolls gave me it's exact location."

"Then let's get going. I want to get there before my father has a chance to track us down."

Almost as soon as she said that, a roar split the tranquil atmosphere of the glade. The two of them whirled to find a small army of vampires and gargoyles charging down the steps towards them.

"I think they just found us." Aeros deadpanned, calmly nodding towards the approaching horde as if he was simply commenting on the weather.

Serana smirked at him. "Alright, Mr. Hero, how about you stop standing there and actually give me a hand? Or are you going to make the woman do all the work?"

Aeros just laughed in reply before charging head on at the vampires, Serana close behind.

The vampires never knew what hit them. Aeros crashed into their midst, swords whirling, slashing and stabbing anything that got in his way. Serana soon joined the fray, dagger diving at enemies' throats as she used magic to blast those out of the reach of her blade.

It didn't take long for them to put the enemy into a rout. The vampires and the few thralls they had remaining broke under the onslaught of the Dragonborn and pure-blooded vampire, and began sprinting as fast as they could back towards the cave entrance, with Aeros and Serana in close pursuit. They managed to kill a few, but some still managed to escape, and were nowhere to be seen by the time the two of them exited the cave.

"Well, I'm guessing that your father knows where we are now, and what we're after." Aeros said, looking around to see if he could spot any vampires.

"Then I guess that means we'll just have to move fast to make sure we get to Auriel's Bow first." Serana said matter-of-factly, making Aeros laugh in agreement.

The two of them climbed back on their horses and set off as fast as they could for Darkfall Cave.

* * *

Author's Notes: Well here's the last chapter of Road to the Dawn. I know it's a little short, but that's because of the both the fact that the quest itself isn't very long, and since I'm also already working on the first part of the next part.

Originally, I was going to have the entire Dawnguard questline be one arc, but ultimately decided it would be too long, and I wouldn't be able to give the final two quests the multiple chapters I thought they deserved. So the next arc will feature Touching the Sky and Kindred Judgment and will most likely be called A New Dawn (This might change, but since I can't come up with a better name right now...) As always, be sure to leave a review and point out any grammar errors you see.

Dragon Language: None used


End file.
